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Ethical and Professional Requirements

Workbooks and materials produced by Workbooks for Better Living are protected by world-wide copyright and can be used only by qualified Mental Health professionals and no one else to protect the rights of respondent(s) as well as the needs of professionals (Non-professionals are free to order normalization workbooks without credentials required for ordering clinical workbooks):

 

Qualified Means:

  • Mental Health professionals who can demonstrate proof of being licensed or certified in the state in which they are practicing.

  • Mental Health professionals outside the USA need proof of belonging to professional or scientific associations, societies, or registers.

  • Graduate students from approved Mental Health training programs should provide a letter of recommendation by a Supervisor on institutional letterhead and a purchase order from their institution.

  • Non-credentialed (unlicensed or uncertified) Mental Health professionals working in institutions (schools, jails, hospitals) will need to provide a letter from a supervisor on institutional letterhead and a purchase order.

  • Mental Health researchers who are not licensed or certified would need to explain the purpose of their study by submitting a proposal on the letterhead of their institution, accompanied by letter from their department chair showing approval of the proposal. Researchers should also show awareness of guidelines for research of this kind with human subjects by obtaining appropriate permission from institution-wide Human Subjects Committees.

Informed Consent Form

Workbooks must be administered with an Informed Consent Form (ICF), which will be provided with all purchase orders. This ICF can be adapted and shortened by Mental Health professionals to suit the specific needs of their respondents. Some parts of this ICF can be administered verbally in face-to-face professional relationships, provided a signed waver is obtained. The length and complexity of the ICF is due to legal, ethical, and professional issues designed to protect both respondent(s) and professionals alike.

Restrictions

Workbooks and materials purchased from Workbooks for Better Living cannot be sold or loaned to other professionals without violating copyright and licensing agreements. Any Mental Health professional found to have violated copyrights and licensing agreement will be prosecuted to the extent of ethical and professional guidelines provided by their respective associations, including, among others: the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy, and the American Social Work Association. Mental Health professionals should be mindful of federal laws protecting copyrighted materials prohibiting reproduction without proper purchase from Workbooks for Better Living. A Licensing Agreement to be signed by qualified purchasers about the time-limited usage of these materials may be necessary before ordered materials will be sent.

Administration of Workbooks.

Each workbook must be administered after respondents have understood the nature of Programmed Distance Writing or Computer-Assisted Interventions and have signed the Informed Consent Form (ICF) sent at no cost to all qualified purchasers of Workbooks for Better Living workbooks. Self-report instruments should be also administered to respondents on a pre-post basis to verify whether the appropriate workbook was administered and whether any change has occurred as a result of workbook administration. Qualified purchasers who fail to obtain a signed ICF from respondents before administration of workbooks and do not verify outcome with pre-post instruments are at risk to charges of "inappropriate usage." Please note that Workbooks for Better Living cannot and will not be held responsible or liable for any negative outcome derived from inappropriate usage of its workbooks.

  • Objective pre-post assessment is highly recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of any workbook.
  • Workbooks can be administered according to two criteria: (1) results from one or more psychological tests, or (2) directly from referral question. For instance:
  • A high depression score on a personality test would require a matching workbook on depression. A self-report inventory to evaluate type and extent of depression is found in the Personality Assessment Inventory workbook. Other workbooks match profiles of a specific test, such as the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, or a general purpose inventory, such as the NEO designed to evaluate the Five Factor Model of Personality.
  • If an individual complains of loneliness, procrastination, or past sexual abuse, or conditions where no objective assessment tool is available, certain workbooks match these specific conditions.
  • The same procedure applies to workbooks for couples and families. They can be administered on the basis of test profile or referral question.

This page last updated 10/23/2005 .

©1998-2002 by Workbooks for Better Living