Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
Department of Psychiatry, Wroclaw Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
Eur Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 1;66(1):e94. doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.2470.
The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) is an organization that speaks on behalf of its individual members and members of National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs). The aim of this study to identify and investigate current contents of ethical codes and practices in the countries belonging to EPA.
The study is an expert survey sent out to 44 representatives of 30 NPAs covering the following topics: the existence of national bodies dealing with ethical issues in psychiatry, the availability of documents relevant to ethical issues, the types of ethical issues addressed at the national level, and the current and envisaged ethical debates.
Out of 44 experts invited to participate in the study, 31 NPAs from 30 countries responded (response rate 70.45%). In the majority of countries, the general mission statement serves as the main document covering ethical issues in psychiatry. Most frequently, internal documents were reported to address medical malpractice, workplace bullying, plagiarism, academic fraud, sexual abuse, and discrimination/racism. Furthermore, internal documents cover the ethical assessment of potentially controversial procedures, including psychosurgery, euthanasia, and pregnancy termination. The most important topics for debate at the level of NPAs/EPA were associated with violations of clinical practice standards and human rights.
NPAs are active in the field of professional ethics, defining ethical standards related to interactions among professionals and services provided by mental health care professionals. Future collaboration of NPAs, under the umbrella of the EPA, could allow to develop a database of local ethical documents that would be translated into English and accessible to all EPA members.
欧洲精神病学协会（EPA）是一个代表其个人成员和国家精神病学协会（NPA）成员发言的组织。本研究旨在确定和调查属于 EPA 的国家的伦理准则和实践的当前内容。
该研究是一项向 44 名代表 30 个 NPA 的专家调查，涵盖以下主题：是否存在处理精神病学伦理问题的国家机构，是否有与伦理问题相关的文件，在国家层面上解决的伦理问题的类型，以及当前和预期的伦理辩论。
在受邀参加研究的 44 名专家中，来自 30 个国家的 31 个 NPA 做出了回应（回应率为 70.45%）。在大多数国家，一般使命声明是涵盖精神病学伦理问题的主要文件。最常报告的是内部文件来解决医疗事故、工作场所欺凌、剽窃、学术欺诈、性虐待和歧视/种族主义问题。此外，内部文件涵盖了对潜在有争议程序的伦理评估，包括精神外科、安乐死和终止妊娠。NPA/EPA 层面上最重要的辩论主题与违反临床实践标准和侵犯人权有关。
NPA 积极参与专业伦理领域，定义与专业人员之间的互动以及心理健康专业人员提供的服务相关的伦理标准。在 EPA 的保护伞下，未来 NPA 的合作将允许开发一个地方伦理文件数据库，这些文件将被翻译成英文，供所有 EPA 成员使用。
