Step 1: Concept Identification:
Ethical principles serve as essential guidelines for psychologists and counsellors. The objective is to determine which principle was contravened in the given scenario.
Informed Consent: This involves ensuring clients comprehend the nature of the therapy, its associated risks, and their rights before agreeing to participate.
Confidentiality: Professionals are obligated to maintain the privacy of information shared by the client and not disclose it to third parties without the client's explicit authorization, barring specific legal exceptions such as an imminent threat of harm.
Respect for Human Rights and Dignity: A comprehensive principle that emphasizes valuing each individual and safeguarding their rights.
Professional Competence: The duty to provide services solely within the limits of one's expertise and training.
Step 2: Detailed Analysis:
The counsellor "shared the details with the staff of the college" without obtaining Aparna's consent. This action directly violates the principle of confidentiality. Confidentiality is foundational to the therapeutic alliance, fostering the trust required for clients to communicate openly. By breaching this trust, the counsellor committed a fundamental ethical violation. Although this may also indicate a lack of respect (C) and potentially incompetence (D), the most direct and specific ethical transgression described is that of confidentiality.
Step 3: Conclusion:
The ethical principle that was breached is the Confidentiality owed to the client.