ISSP position stand on the use of the internet in sport psychology

The development of the Internet has created many opportunities for expanding the way that knowledge and services have traditionally been disseminated in all businesses and fields of study. Along with these new opportunities for development comes the potential to misuse this technology. In a profession such as sport psychology, misuse of the Internet can easily damage the reputation of the field and result in harm to individual clients. As a means of establishing standards for the proper use of the Internet, it is essential that ethical guidelines be expanded to include the use of the Internet in sport psychology. This Position Stand identifies several of the potential uses of the Internet in sport psychology, describes several problems and potential unethical practices that must be considered when using the Internet, provides a rationale for the development of Internet standards, and proposes an initial set of ethical standards for the use of the Internet in sport psychology.