7 Ethical dilemmas
The readings in Activities 4 and 5 illustrate the importance of maintaining professional boundaries within sport and fitness and adhering to relevant codes of conduct to develop an effective working relationship with the participants. Failing to adhere to these can lead to ethical challenges. Working closely with individuals in a sport and fitness environment can, as we have seen, create an imbalance of power between the coach/instructor and participant. Dependency can also arise where the participant relies heavily on the coach/instructor for help, and this can also be a problem if the practitioner does not identify this and encourage the client to make their own decisions and develop more resilience. Conversely, when practitioners are being paid for their services dependency of the client helps pay the bills and keep the client, whereas developing independency may mean that the practitioner loses their client (or they are needed less often). High levels of dependency can also make individuals vulnerable to exploitations (Burke, 2001). These are examples of issues that can occur and the next activity encourages you to think about potential ethical dilemmas that may arise within a particular sports or fitness context.
Activity 8 Ethical dilemmas
According to Loubert (1999), Makarowski (1999) and Ray et al. (1999), ethical dilemmas tend to fit into one of the following categories:
- confidentiality
- conflict of interest
- lack of training
- lack of resources
- lack of comfort
- relationship issues
- exploitation.
Think about an area of sport or fitness practice that you are familiar with and list any potential ethical dilemmas that may occur in each of these categories. Where possible, try and note down a possible solution or prevention.
Comment
The example you think of will be very specific to the area selected. However, the module team has drawn up a list of general dilemmas that may occur in a range of sport and fitness environments.
Confidentiality: practitioners often hold personal information about clients, so confidentiality must be adhered to. If sharing information with appropriate parties, it is important the client is informed. If a client divulges information that the practitioner is uncomfortable with, they may have to inform someone else. Loubert (1999) suggests this will be when there is an immediate danger to the client, to others or there is a legal requirement to pass this information on.
Conflict of interest: this may occur if individuals are performing two roles such as coaching their own child, or instructing a client that they also treat as a sports therapist and know them to be injured. Here conflict may arise and would need to be addressed between the two parties.
Lack of training: a client may have specific health needs that the practitioner has not been trained to prescribe exercise for or an athlete may ask the coach to look at an injury for them, which they have little knowledge of. In this instance it would be unethical for the coach/instructor to do anything they are not qualified to do.
Lack of resources: individuals should not agree to a role for which they may not have the resources (such as time and energy) to be able to fulfil, i.e. offering extra training sessions.
Lack of comfort: there may be situations that make the practitioner uncomfortable, such as personal training a client who they know uses enhancing supplements containing WADA banned substances, which may not sit within their own moral values.
Relationship issues: when working closely with people a sexual attraction may occur. This may be from either one or both parties. The sports coach UK Code of Conduct for Sports Coaches states that ‘coaches must avoid sexual intimacy with athletes either while coaching them or in the period of time immediately following the end of the coaching relationship’ (sports coach UK, 2009).
Exploitation: Loubert (1999) states this is when one person or group intentionally use(s) another person to achieve a selfish objective. Ethical issues involving exploitation often occur when there is an imbalance of power within the relationship and coaches and instructors abuse that power. An example of this would be sexual abuse of an athlete/client by a coach/instructor.
Weinberg and Gould (2007, p. 567) state that an individual’s moral reasoning and moral behaviour are linked by a moral action process that includes four stages:
This may provide a useful framework for coaches/instructors to work through any future ethical dilemmas that arise (see Box 3).
Box 3 Dinner date dilemma
Carlo has been a personal trainer for 5 years now and has recently taken on a new female client, Emma. Emma is a friend of Carlo’s sister, although they hadn’t met each other until Carlo began training her. They formed a good working relationship and Carlo and Emma were pleased with her progress. The aim of Emma’s weekly training programme was to help her to lose 5 stone in weight as well as increasing her cardiovascular fitness and lowering her resting blood pressure. After each training session Carlo and Emma frequently had a coffee together to discuss how the training was going and if they needed to change anything. This gradually escalated into going out for dinner, and once they even went to the theatre. It was always Emma who asked Carlo as a thank you for helping her with her weight loss. Carlo felt this was simply an extension of his role in motivating Emma and keeping her on track for her goals. However, gradually Emma became more tactile with Carlo during training sessions and he began to feel a little uncomfortable. Then, one day over dinner, Emma asked him if he would like to go on holiday to a health spa with her. This is when Carlo realised he may have a moral dilemma to face.
Carlo’s four step action plan
- At this stage Carlo began to interpret the situation as one that involved some sort of moral judgement, as he felt the relationship was in danger of crossing a professional boundary.
- He decided that the best course of action was to discuss this with his mentor to establish a plan of action.
- Carlo discussed this with his mentor and reached the conclusion that he had to reinforce the professional boundaries of their relationship and that by addressing this situation and advising Emma that he would be unable to go with her on holiday he was to act morally.
- One evening after a training session Carlo discussed the issue with Emma, stating that he felt they had become friends but that due to professional boundaries he would have to refrain from any personal relationship wither her, including going to dinner and holidays. He explained that it was becoming harder for him to keep her focused on her training and goals and that she was becoming too relaxed in her training sessions. Although at first this was a difficult situation they were able to re-establish the professional boundaries within the relationship.