This course is approved for 1.0 Ethics Credits.
Individuals with ASD and IDD experience high psychiatric and medical comorbidities and significant disparities in access to care, making them particularly vulnerable to ethical missteps such as diagnostic overshadowing, premature assumptions about capacity and treatment, and overuse of restrictive interventions. These challenges persist in part due to limited clinician training in applying medical ethics specifically to neurodevelopmental populations, as well as unexamined cognitive biases that influence decision-making under time pressure. This lecture addresses that gap by providing a practical framework grounded in the four principles of medical ethics, along with structured strategies for bias recognition, and least-restrictive care planning. Participants will leave with concrete tools to slow down clinical reasoning, reduce vulnerability, and deliver more equitable and ethically driven psychiatric care.
Target Audience
This activity is intended for physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other mental health professionals.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the increased clinical complexity and disparities faced by individuals with ASD and Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD), and how these factors add to ethical dilemmas in clinical practice
- Analyze ethical dilemmas that arise in the care of patients with ASD and IDD using core principles of medical ethics.
- Apply ethically informed strategies to promote equitable, patient-centered, and least-restrictive care for individuals with ASD and IDD.