Conflict of interest
An incompatibility between an RBT's private and professional interests that creates risk to services or professional relationships, because personal considerations might influence professional judgment.
The RBT Ethics Code (2.0) defines a conflict of interest as an incompatibility between an RBT's private and professional interests that creates a risk or potential risk to services provided to, or the professional relationship with, a client, stakeholder, supervisor or coworker. Conflicts may arise when personal, financial or professional considerations might influence judgment in delivering services.
Common sources include multiple relationships (such as working with a friend's child), gifts, financial arrangements (selling products to a client's family or being hired privately by them), and personal relationships with a supervisor or coworker. The code notes that gift exchange can lead to conflicts of interest and multiple relationships, and limits gifts to those with a monetary value of no more than $10 US, given as an occasional expression of gratitude; ongoing or cumulative gifts may violate the standard, and stricter employer policies apply when they exist.
A conflict of interest does not require that anything bad has happened yet; the risk itself is the concern. An RBT who wants to please a family because they are friends might, for example, skip parts of an extinction procedure the family dislikes, or record data that look better than they are.
When an RBT recognizes a possible conflict, they tell their supervisor, follow the supervisor's direction to resolve or reduce it, and document the steps. Being open early is much easier than untangling a conflict after it affects services.
Example and non-example
| Example | An RBT's relative starts a business selling sensory toys and asks the RBT to recommend the products to client families. The RBT declines and tells their supervisor about the request. |
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| Non-example | A family gives an RBT a handmade card at the end of the school year. A card worth well under $10 given as an occasional thank-you is acceptable under the code, unless the employer's policy is stricter, and does not by itself create a conflict. |
Don't confuse it with
| Multiple relationship | A multiple relationship is the mixing of roles, while a conflict of interest is the competing interests that may result from it or from other sources such as gifts or money. |
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| Implicit bias | Implicit bias is an unconscious attitude about groups that can skew judgment, while a conflict of interest arises from competing personal and professional interests in a particular situation. |
Test yourself
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Question 1Why does the RBT Ethics Code direct RBTs to avoid multiple relationships?
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D: They can cause conflicts of interest and harm to clients. Mixing roles can create conflicts of interest, cloud the RBT's objectivity and put the client at risk of harm. That is why the code tells RBTs to avoid them and to act quickly when one develops.
- A: Multiple relationships are not on the list of events that must be self-reported; the code asks RBTs to tell their supervisor.
- B: The code does not tie recertification to multiple relationships; the concern is harm to the client.
- C: Personal, family and social relationships can create conflicts even when no money is involved.
Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.10 · 40-hour curriculum section G
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Question 2A client's parent asks the RBT to babysit the client and their siblings on weekends for extra pay. What should the RBT do?
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C: Politely decline and let the supervisor know about the request. Working for the client's family in a second, private role is a multiple relationship that can affect objectivity and the client's services. The RBT declines and tells the supervisor so the request is on record.
- A: Babysitting adds a paid personal role with the family whatever is done during it.
- B: Billing babysitting as services would be inaccurate, and the second role would remain.
- D: A paid job with a client's family is not purely personal behavior; it mixes roles with the client.
Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.10 · 40-hour curriculum section G
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Question 3An RBT and their BCBA supervisor decide to share an apartment as roommates. Under the RBT Ethics Code, to whom should the RBT report this?
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D: The supervisor's manager or another appropriate entity. If a multiple relationship involves the supervisor, the RBT reports it to the supervisor's manager or another appropriate entity, such as human resources or the BACB, and documents that communication.
- A: When the multiple relationship involves the supervisor, the code directs the report to someone else.
- B: Living together adds a personal role to the supervisory relationship.
- C: Families are not the ones who resolve a supervision conflict, and telling them is not required.
Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.10
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task F.7 Multiple relationships in content area F, Ethics, which is 11 of the 75 scored questions.