NURS 2003 Midterm UPDATED ACTUAL Questions
and CORRECT Answers | A+ Verified | 2026
• Stress -✓✓ the inability to cope with perceived (real or imagined) demands or
threats to an individuals mental, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing. stress occurs
when individuals perceive that they cannot adequately cope with demands being
made on them or when their well-being is threatened.
• Stressors -✓✓ - stress-inducing demands
- can be physiological or emotional- psychological and positive or negative.
- they require an individual to adapt to a situation
• physiological stressors -✓✓ burns, chronic pain, birth of a baby, infectious
disease, excessive noise, inadequate nutrition, running a marathon
• emotional-psychological stressors -✓✓ diagnosis of cancer, marital and other
family problems, failing an examination, inadequate financial resources, grieving,
a prolonged period of caregiving
• the concepts of stress -✓✓ - it is a phenomenon
- a non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it
- it is subjective
- occurs when one perceives they cannot adequately cope with demands being
made on them... or when their wellbeing is threatened
• daily hassels -✓✓ experiences and conditions of daily living that are viewed as
irritating, frustrating, and distressing
,• eustress -✓✓ stress associated with positive events such as the birth of a child
• work-related stress -✓✓ occurs when there is an imbalance between work
demands and a worker's ability to cope with these demands.
• hardiness -✓✓ the way a person deals with stress (commitment, openness to
change)... internal locus of control
• sense of coherence -✓✓ how a person sees the world and one's life in it
(optimistic; life is meaningful)
• resilience -✓✓ being resourceful, flexible, and, using problem-solving strategies
• attitude -✓✓ postitive vs negative
• stress as a stimulus (holmes, rahe, masuda, miller) -✓✓ - social readjustment
rating scale
- the assumption is that frequent changes in life make people more at risk
- stress is a stimulus that causes a response
• stress as a transaction (lazarus and folkman) -✓✓ - neuro-scientific way of
appraising stress cognitively
- focuses on person-environment interactions
- emphasizes the role of cognitive appraisal in assessing stressful situations and
selecting coping options
- cognitive appraisal is divided into two stages: primary and secondary
,• primary appraisal -✓✓ focuses on the influence or effect of the stressor
• secondary appraisal -✓✓ involves positive or negative perceptions that the
individual holds concerning his or her ability to overcome the stressor.
• selyes theory of stress as a resource -✓✓ - stress as a response to a demand or
stressor that elicts a series of physiological changes to which the person must
adapt.
- general adaption syndrome
1. alarm reaction
2. stage of resistance
3. stage of exhaustion
• alarm reaction -✓✓ - acute stress
- person perceives a stressor physically or mentally
- "fight or flight"
- temporarily decreases the individual's resistance and may even result in disease or
death if the stress is prolonged and severe
- sympathoadrenal response
• stage of resistance -✓✓ - a person uses a variety of physiological resources to
help them cope with the stress they are experiencing
- it is with the hope that a person will adapt and return to a normal state of
equilibrium when these resources are implemented
- phsycial energy is still being used at this point to adapt, they enter the next phase
of the GAS
, • stage of exhaustion -✓✓ - the final stage of the GAS
- All physical resources have been expended
- may see an improvement in physiological symptoms prior to death (i.e., increase
in mental alertness, normalization of vital signs)
- can be remedied if a person is treated medically, psychologically.
• cerebral cortex (stress) -✓✓ the emotional-psychological events (Stressor) is
evaluated with reference to past experiences and future consequences, and a course
of action is planned. these functions are involved in the perception of a stressor
• limbic system (stress) -✓✓ lies in the inner mid-portion of the brain near the base
of the brain. the limbic system is an important mediator of emotions and behaviour.
when the limbic system is stimulated, emotions, feelings, and behaviours that
ensure survival and self-preservation may occur.
• reticular formation (stress) -✓✓ - the reticular formation is located between the
lower end of the brainstem and the thalamus. it contains the reticular activating
system, which is crucial for the state of wakefulness
- when stimulated, the reticular activating system sends impulses to the limbic
system and the cerebral cortex, which produce arousal and emotional responses to
the stressor. stress usually increases the degree of wakefulness and can lead to
sleep disturbances
• hypothalamus (stress) -✓✓ - lies at the base of the brain just above the pituitary
gland, has many functions in the adaption of stress
- the central connection between nervous and endocrine systems in the stress
response
and CORRECT Answers | A+ Verified | 2026
• Stress -✓✓ the inability to cope with perceived (real or imagined) demands or
threats to an individuals mental, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing. stress occurs
when individuals perceive that they cannot adequately cope with demands being
made on them or when their well-being is threatened.
• Stressors -✓✓ - stress-inducing demands
- can be physiological or emotional- psychological and positive or negative.
- they require an individual to adapt to a situation
• physiological stressors -✓✓ burns, chronic pain, birth of a baby, infectious
disease, excessive noise, inadequate nutrition, running a marathon
• emotional-psychological stressors -✓✓ diagnosis of cancer, marital and other
family problems, failing an examination, inadequate financial resources, grieving,
a prolonged period of caregiving
• the concepts of stress -✓✓ - it is a phenomenon
- a non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it
- it is subjective
- occurs when one perceives they cannot adequately cope with demands being
made on them... or when their wellbeing is threatened
• daily hassels -✓✓ experiences and conditions of daily living that are viewed as
irritating, frustrating, and distressing
,• eustress -✓✓ stress associated with positive events such as the birth of a child
• work-related stress -✓✓ occurs when there is an imbalance between work
demands and a worker's ability to cope with these demands.
• hardiness -✓✓ the way a person deals with stress (commitment, openness to
change)... internal locus of control
• sense of coherence -✓✓ how a person sees the world and one's life in it
(optimistic; life is meaningful)
• resilience -✓✓ being resourceful, flexible, and, using problem-solving strategies
• attitude -✓✓ postitive vs negative
• stress as a stimulus (holmes, rahe, masuda, miller) -✓✓ - social readjustment
rating scale
- the assumption is that frequent changes in life make people more at risk
- stress is a stimulus that causes a response
• stress as a transaction (lazarus and folkman) -✓✓ - neuro-scientific way of
appraising stress cognitively
- focuses on person-environment interactions
- emphasizes the role of cognitive appraisal in assessing stressful situations and
selecting coping options
- cognitive appraisal is divided into two stages: primary and secondary
,• primary appraisal -✓✓ focuses on the influence or effect of the stressor
• secondary appraisal -✓✓ involves positive or negative perceptions that the
individual holds concerning his or her ability to overcome the stressor.
• selyes theory of stress as a resource -✓✓ - stress as a response to a demand or
stressor that elicts a series of physiological changes to which the person must
adapt.
- general adaption syndrome
1. alarm reaction
2. stage of resistance
3. stage of exhaustion
• alarm reaction -✓✓ - acute stress
- person perceives a stressor physically or mentally
- "fight or flight"
- temporarily decreases the individual's resistance and may even result in disease or
death if the stress is prolonged and severe
- sympathoadrenal response
• stage of resistance -✓✓ - a person uses a variety of physiological resources to
help them cope with the stress they are experiencing
- it is with the hope that a person will adapt and return to a normal state of
equilibrium when these resources are implemented
- phsycial energy is still being used at this point to adapt, they enter the next phase
of the GAS
, • stage of exhaustion -✓✓ - the final stage of the GAS
- All physical resources have been expended
- may see an improvement in physiological symptoms prior to death (i.e., increase
in mental alertness, normalization of vital signs)
- can be remedied if a person is treated medically, psychologically.
• cerebral cortex (stress) -✓✓ the emotional-psychological events (Stressor) is
evaluated with reference to past experiences and future consequences, and a course
of action is planned. these functions are involved in the perception of a stressor
• limbic system (stress) -✓✓ lies in the inner mid-portion of the brain near the base
of the brain. the limbic system is an important mediator of emotions and behaviour.
when the limbic system is stimulated, emotions, feelings, and behaviours that
ensure survival and self-preservation may occur.
• reticular formation (stress) -✓✓ - the reticular formation is located between the
lower end of the brainstem and the thalamus. it contains the reticular activating
system, which is crucial for the state of wakefulness
- when stimulated, the reticular activating system sends impulses to the limbic
system and the cerebral cortex, which produce arousal and emotional responses to
the stressor. stress usually increases the degree of wakefulness and can lead to
sleep disturbances
• hypothalamus (stress) -✓✓ - lies at the base of the brain just above the pituitary
gland, has many functions in the adaption of stress
- the central connection between nervous and endocrine systems in the stress
response
