Ethical Challenges for Psychologists in Albanian Media: A Qualitative Analysis

This study aims to explore the ethical challenges psychologists in Albania face when being part of media appearances, due to the impact mass media, such as television, the internet and social media, has on public perception. The field of psychology in Albania is very new, with the official “The Code of Ethics and Deontology of Psychologists in the Republic of Albania” only being published in 2017. Therefore, there is a lack of research in the field of ethics within the region. We use a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with psychologists in Albania and members of the Ethics Commission of Professional Disciplinary Judgment of the Order of Psychologists in the Republic of Albania to address the questions “What are the most common ethical challenges of psychologist in Albanian Media?” and “What are the reasons and factors that contribute to these ethical challenges?”. Maintaining confidentiality, staying within boundaries of competence, separating professional from personal opinion and issues arising from self-advertisement are the most common ethical challenges noted. The reasons range from the desire for fame and elevation of one’s status, psychology being a relatively young field in Albania, the adaptation of codes of ethics and conduct to the Albanian context to media pressure. As this is a qualitative study, we are hesitant to generalize these findings, however this is a starting point for further quantitative research on the previously neglected fields of media psychology and ethics in Albania, which can inform practical strategies to be implemented in the future to minimize the cases of ethical violations in media.