School Counselors and Nurses: Collaborative Best Practices for Maintaining Confidentiality with Pregnant Adolescents

Authors

  • Lisa Grubbs Texas Woman's University
  • Joel H. Muro Texas Woman's University
  • Kaitlyn Clements Texas Woman's University

Keywords:

pregnancy, school counseling, school nurse, ethics, confidentiality

Abstract

The authors offer a best practices approach regarding pregnant adolescents revealing their circumstance to the school counselor.  The counselor is often caught in a vexing conundrum; wanting to maintain confidentiality with the student and yet in many cases being compelled by the laws of their respective state to report the pregnancy to the student’s parents.  The authors give suggestions about how to partner with a school nurse who can then communicate with the parents, allowing the relationship between counselor and student to remain safe and confidential. 

Author Biographies

Lisa Grubbs, Texas Woman's University

Assistant Professor

Department of Family Sciences

Counseling & Development

Joel H. Muro, Texas Woman's University

Associate Professor

Department of Family Sciences

Counseling & Development

Downloads

Published

2016-04-20