A Conceptual Rationale for a Contemporary Unified Code of Ethics in Ukraine

Abstract

The globalization of psychology-counseling in Ukraine began about 30 years ago. Since the establishment of applied psychology in the early 1990s, the profession is still forming its standards of education, training, and standards of care. Ukraine legislation has actively developed in the last ten years, especially given the needs presented with the Ukrainian-Russian war. Ukrainian psychologists-counselors address the needs of hundreds of thousands of recent veterans and displaced people that fled occupied territories. Therefore, the standards of care and the need for an updated unified ethical code are actively discussed in Ukraine at present. The purpose of this paper was to discuss universal principles of ethics that could be contextualized to update the Ukrainian ethics code for psychological counseling. The authors apply social dominance theory and the contextual model of psychotherapy to illustrate ethical guiding principles that need to be considered in the developing code of ethics. Case study examples are provided to illustrate global ethical principles application with the cultural sensitivity and respect for the global environment. The paper concludes with concluding social implications to ethical practice within Ukraine and guidance for future research.