NU 160 CH. 20 Loss & Grief

Front

Your clients have just survived a flood in which they lost their home, car, and all personal belongings. They are experiencing a(n):

Back

External loss

Answer explanation

External losses include those losses outside the individual. A grief reaction refers to how the client reacts to a loss; internal loss refers to losses that include a part of oneself; and permanent loss is irreversible.

Front

School-age children have some idea about causes and events, but they still associate loss with:

Back

Bad thoughts or misdeeds of their own

Answer explanation

The child often feels responsible for the loss. Concern for themselves refers to toddlers’ reactions to loss. Viewing causes and events as a sequence of natural events is associated with adult thinking, and adult thinking and childlike reactions refer to the response of adolescents.

Front

Many funeral, burial, and mourning practices, such as the length of time for mourning and public displays of grief, are determined by a person’s:

Back

Culture

Answer explanation

Cultural practices regarding dying, grief, and mourning have a strong influence on behaviors.

Front

The wife of a recently deceased client states that she is going to return to work and rejoin her exercise class. She is displaying behavior that occurs at which stage of grieving?

Back

Acceptance and recovery

Answer explanation

This is the phase of the grieving process during which individuals begin to focus their energies toward the living and their lives begin to stabilize. Denial is the first stage of grieving when the person is in shock and rejects the loss of another. Depression and identification is the third stage of grieving, characterized by depressed feelings followed by a period of sharing memories and seeking support from others. Yearning is the second stage of grieving, in which the person longs for the deceased and feels overwhelmed by the loss.

Front

The dying client is overheard by her family talking to her dead husband. The family is concerned that the client is confused. What is the nurse’s best response?

Back

This is a normal symptom of approaching death.

Answer explanation

This symptom is a way for the dying client to prepare for the transition period of death. It is not necessary to reorient the dying client or to participate in the conversation.