Ethical Standards & Professional Applications Flashcards

When a CMA practitioner's scope of practice ends and a client's needs exceed movement analysis (e.g., they disclose trauma), the ethical action is to:

Answer: Refer the client to an appropriately licensed mental health professional

Referral to appropriately credentialed professionals when client needs exceed scope of practice is a cornerstone of ethical conduct.

In Laban Movement Analysis, the concept of 'effort observation' raises ethical concerns primarily because:

Answer: Movement observations can be misused to make psychological inferences beyond what the data supports

Effort observation describes how movement is done but should not be overextended into unwarranted psychological diagnoses or character judgments.

A CMA is asked to testify as an expert witness in a legal case using movement analysis. The primary ethical obligation is to:

Answer: Provide objective, evidence-based testimony within the established limits of the LMA framework

Expert witnesses have an ethical duty to provide honest, impartial, and evidence-based testimony regardless of who retained them.

Confidentiality in CMA practice requires that client movement profiles:

Answer: Be protected and shared only with explicit client consent or as required by law

Client movement data carries the same confidentiality obligations as other professional health-related information.

A student CMA practitioner is supervised by a certified CMA who asks the student to document observations they did not personally make. This situation represents:

Answer: An ethical violation, as documentation must reflect only one's own direct observations

Professional integrity requires that documentation accurately reflects one's own direct observations, not fabricated or secondhand accounts.

In educational settings, a CMA instructor who has a dual relationship with a student (e.g., also their therapist) should:

Answer: Disclose the dual relationship to the school and manage or terminate one relationship to avoid conflict of interest

Dual relationships create conflicts of interest that can compromise professional judgment; disclosure and management or resolution are ethically required.

A CMA discovers an error in a previously submitted movement analysis report that could affect a client's treatment. The ethical obligation is to:

Answer: Inform the relevant parties of the error promptly and provide a corrected report

Professional ethics require prompt disclosure of errors that may affect client welfare, followed by corrective action.