| Given the evolution of computers and the Internet, the use of these technologies presents many ethical concerns; thus, their use within professional practice needs serious attention. The purpose of this study was to research recent, current, and anticipated ethical dilemmas experienced by rehabilitation counselors with the use of computers and/or the Internet. In addition, the study measured counselors' awareness of these ethical responsibilities per the 2001 Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors, their beliefs as to whether the code should include such provisions, and their perceived ability to carry out a standard that they could find themselves being accused of violating.; A concurrent mixed methods research design was selected for this research, and the Internet/Computer Ethics Survey for Rehabilitation Counselors (IES) was developed and validated for the collection of raw data. The qualitative portion of the design and data analysis utilized the grounded theory approach to coding and theory building emerging from the ethical dilemmas questions. The quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods of stepwise multiple forward regression and logistic regression. The sample consisted of counselors practicing in the state/federal vocational rehabilitation programs within four states of the Northwest and Intermountain West regions.; Ethical dilemmas recently or currently experienced by the sample, or anticipated in the future, fell into four thematic areas: confidentiality, relationships, practice issues, and advocacy. Of the demographic variables considered in this study, the number of hours of Internet/computer training was found significant as to a counselor's level of awareness of the various computer and Internet ethics constructs while the practice setting was found to have an inverse relationship on these counselors' awareness. Triangulation of the results from the validation of the IES, the qualitative, and the quantitative data suggested the need for the development of policies, methods, and tools to assist counselors to harness some control in the use of the technologies, and training to ensure the counselors' competence in the use of these mediums or to meet their responsibilities in assessing a client's technological competency. |
