CSA CE Ethics Requirement
Every Three Years
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The CSA's Role, Rules and Responsibilities online module – 3 CSA CE ethics credits
All CSAs must complete The CSA's Role, Rules and Responsibilities online module during each three-year recertification cycle.
Through this module, members gain a renewed understanding of the standards, rules and responsibilities contained in the CSA Code
of Professional Responsibility and the SCSA Membership Rules. All CSAs must adhere to the CSA Code and SCSA Rules in their
professional interactions and as a member of SCSA.
Maintaining the integrity of the CSA designation requires members to recognize potential "ethical gray areas" and consciously make the best
possible ethical choice for the situation. It also requires CSAs to report behavior of other CSAs to the CSA Board of Standards when they
have evidence of a possible violation of the CSA Code of Professional Responsibility. By self-monitoring and having an awareness of the
behavior of other CSAs, members can use the designation proudly.
To register for The CSA's Role, Rules and Responsibilities, click http://csa.webce.com. This module has an open book quiz, passing score 100%
CSA CE Online Ethics Courses
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Ethics in Selling to Seniors
In Ethics in Selling to Seniors, you’ll learn how to identify ethical
concerns and issues at each step of the sales process - the approach; the
opening and fact-finding interview; presenting a proposal, and implementing
and following up if the prospect or client purchases a product or service.
You’ll also learn how to modify your sales tools and methods to meet higher
ethical standards, for example, the specific language to use – and not
use – in your marketing and sales materials to avoid misleading people.
This course places special emphasis on advertising, sales proposals
(with and without illustrations) and other business communications including
brochures, flyers and electronic communications, as well as how to represent
yourself and your professional credentials in the highest ethical manner.
You’ll also have the opportunity to apply your new knowledge to real-to-life
situations that ask you to analyze the ethical issues involved and to identify
the proper ways to handle them. These scenarios cover several of the most
common unethical practices in selling to seniors: churning (inappropriate
buying and selling in a client’s investment account), twisting (misrepresenting
in order to encourage product replacement), violating the fiduciary
relationship, and failing to communicate in a way that ensures seniors fully
and accurately understand their choices and the consequences of a particular
decision.
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Maximizing Integrity in Decisions with Seniors
One of the most difficult situations a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)® can
face is when a senior begins to show signs of possible cognitive difficulty
or impairment, but is still legally competent to make decisions – or when
family members question a senior’s behavior and decisions, and want the CSA
to become involved. What are the proper ethical actions for the CSA who wants
to ensure the senior’s best interests are protected and served?
Maximizing Integrity in Decisions with Seniors shows how you can use
your influence ethically when working with seniors in these types of situations,
including when possible elder abuse or neglect is suspected, and what steps
you should take to protect your professional standing.
You’ll also learn to recognize the major obstacles to ethical decision
making – common rationalizations, frequent errors in critical thinking,
mental traps - and the importance of emotional intelligence. In addition,
this course provides a tool for assessing the ethical quality of your
decisions – the Six Pillars of Character, and eight steps for making ethical
and effective decisions (building on the ethics taught in the CSA Designation
Program).
Maximizing Integrity in Decisions with Seniors is packed full of
concrete, real life examples and scenarios based on interviews with subject
matter experts who work with seniors in areas such as geriatric care management,
elder law, financial services, life and health and long-term care insurance,
and tax planning and accounting.
You’ll have the opportunity in this course to assess your own comfort level
with ethical dilemmas involving seniors and learn how to foster senior autonomy
in making decisions. Hands-on tools that you can print out and use in your
daily work are also provided, including a list of correct responses to ten
common ethical dilemmas involving seniors and a template for a Personal Action
Plan to help you make even more ethical decisions going forward.
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Effective and Ethical Communication with Seniors
Why would most professionals tell you that communicating in person with their clients is one of the most important things they do? Further, why would they tell you that face-to-face communication with senior clients who have special needs and interests is critical for ethical conduct? And why would they tell you that such communication with senior clients is one of the most challenging things to do well?
Effective and Ethical Communication with Seniors gives you real answers to these questions. You’ll find yourself using this information many times in your professional practice with seniors, and even in your personal relationships. This course goes beyond typical courses on communications, because it focuses on a comprehensive set of knowledge and skills that will enable you to better communicate with seniors. These recommendations will allow you to serve your senior clients even more ethically. In this course, you’ll learn topics such as:
- Factors that are often hidden underneath spoken words, which determine the suitability of a product or service for a senior client
- Strategies to address five verbal behaviors that seniors often display as they tackle the developmental tasks of aging
- The difference between change and the 3-stage process of transition, and how this affects seniors
- Seven tips for improving your nonverbal communication based on gender and culture
- A comprehensive approach to assessing your senior clients’ changing needs, and how to help them set SMART goals
- A 4-step model that you need to successfully facilitate effective group meetings with your senior clients when their spouses, adult children, or other professionals are also involved
- Tips and tools for planning and conducting more successful meetings with your senior clients, including conducting the “meeting before the meeting;” opening and closing your meeting; and conducting effective and efficient conference calls
Effective and Ethical Communication with Seniors uses real-world examples and scenarios based on interviews with professionals in the fields of insurance, tax planning and accounting, elder law, and geriatric care management.
REGISTRATION
All CSA CE online ethics courses are optional. To register for and complete CSA CE ethics courses, click here: http://csa.webce.com
CSA CE credit hours: Each of the CSA CE ethics courses listed above earns 6 CSA CE credits. |
Life and Health and Ethics CE; CFP CE, CPE and PACE
You may request Life and Health (L&H) insurance CE and, in some states, Ethics CE for the CSA CE online ethics courses listed above. An administrative fee is charged to file the L&H CE, and state filing fees may apply.
The CSA CE ethics courses listed above are also approved for CFP, CPE and PACE credits.
For details about CE approvals in your state, call WebCE at 1-800-488-9308 or go to http://csa.webce.com Click "Yes" for L&H CE to display a U.S. map and L&H CE and Ethics CE information by state.
Please note: Professional CE does not apply to the Critical Issues in Aging Courses.
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Testing and reporting: The CSA CE ethics courses each have an on-line multiple-choice exam.
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Grading is Pass/Fail; passing is 70% or more correct answers for the CSA CE ethics courses listed above.
Members will receive their test scores online immediately after completing the exam. Members may re-test immediately online.
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Frequently Asked Questions about CSA CE on-line ethics courses
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Critical Issues in Aging is a series of three optional online CSA CE ethics courses with short open book quizzes:
- Health - Supporting Seniors’ Personal Health Care Decisions
- Financial - A New Approach to the Challenge of Financing Longer Life
- Social - Quality Caregiving: Making Ethical Choices Throughout Life
This series covers some of the ethical aspects of the following topics, which are introduced in the CSA Course:
- Advance directives and end-of-life planning
- Later life goals and the suitability of reverse mortgages for funding them
- The progression of caregiving needs and choices
See below for Course Descriptions
Each online course:
- Consists of professional articles and/or article excerpts
- Has a total of 10 multiple choice quiz questions (open book), passing score 100%
- Takes approximately two hours to complete
- Offers 3 CSA CE credits (a total of 9 CSA CE credits maximum) *
* L&H CE, and other professional CE, is not available for the Critical Issues in Aging courses.
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Health - Supporting Seniors’ Personal Health Care Decisions
What is the critical issue?
Living successfully throughout our lives means many different things to many people, and the idea of success rightly carries through to the end of our aging journey – our end-of-life experience.
Unfortunately, many of us have mental and emotional blocks against discussing end-of-life questions about health care and medical treatment. Research indicates that many seniors do not talk about their wishes for these matters with their family members, doctors and other caregivers.
As a result, the lack of communication only complicates what is already a crucial experience -- one equal only to birth in its importance, and one that already has many moral and ethical implications.
What are some of the ethical concerns?
- If seniors are competent: At what point is quality of life comprised? How much do others influence seniors’ decisions – and is this ethical?
- If seniors are no longer competent and have not communicated adequately: How can family members, doctors and others know what the seniors would want? How can they be certain they are respecting the seniors’ autonomy, beliefs and values?
- Even if seniors have communicated their wishes: Are their instructions contained in legally-binding documents (certain advance directives)? If the senior has advance directives, is the information current, complete and specific – or is it outdated because something has changed?
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Financial - A New Approach to the Challenge of Financing Longer Life
What is the critical issue?
Because people are living longer than ever before, the critical question they face is "how can I make my savings and investments last as long as I do?"
Also, most seniors are physically and mentally healthy and remain so for many years, and some for their entire lives. However, some seniors in later life need help from in-home or community support services to stay living in their homes, or require long-term care in an assisted living facility or nursing home. Given this possibility, what is the best way for seniors to plan to pay for health care and still meet other important goals such as leaving an inheritance and providing for a spouse?
For the majority of seniors, who are in the middle to lower income groups, their main financial asset is the home they own. Some also have qualified retirement plans, however, these and their personal savings may not be enough to pay for a longer life that is also a quality life.
What are some of the ethical concerns?
- How can seniors plan to accomplish as many of their goals as they can – for example, health care, self-sufficiency, providing for a spouse and leaving an inheritance?
- Are seniors making a financial decision with fully informed consent?
- Is the financial product suitable for the senior’s age, goals, resources, etc. -- or is the sales person or other individual who is influencing the senior’s decision more interested in a sales commission or other financial benefit?
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Social - Quality Caregiving: Making Ethical Choices Throughout Life
What is the critical issue?
Research shows that caregiving is a much broader and more complex phenomenon than was originally thought. It is not just a set of tasks that are performed for a person who needs physical and/or mental help. Caregiving involves ethical choices along a continuum – from relatively simple assistance with the activities of daily living all the way to caring for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and difficult end-of-life decisions.
These choices can be all-encompassing. They often involve the person receiving the care and the caregivers -- family members, doctors and other professionals, as well as our society in terms of our laws, institutional policies and the organizations that support caregiving needs.
Importantly, these choices also involve any unspoken or implied judgments about the ‘worth of the individual’ receiving the care, the cost of the caregiving and these ethical principles:
- Ensuring the highest possible quality of life
- Supporting autonomy
- Respecting the right of self-determination
What are some of the ethical concerns?
There are numerous ethical concerns in caregiving. Some of the most common and important ones are:
- How can we assess a person’s quality of life, particularly when the care recipient is not fully capable or competent, but otherwise healthy?
- When is quality of life more important than living longer?
- Who should provide and pay for the caregiving? How should conflicting demands on family members who are caregivers be resolved?
- How should we decide whether one person’s life is more valuable than another’s – for example, in receiving medical treatment?
- Should a person’s prior wishes for end-of-life care take precedence over what is best for the person now?
To register for one or more of the Critical Issues in Aging online courses, click here: http://csa.webce.com