CHILD LIFE CERTIFICATION TESTS 2026
PRACTICE TEST QUESTIONS AND DETAILED
ANSWER EXPLANATIONS FULL REVIEW
◉ Mary Brooks. Answer: In Philadelphia, helped create the child life
movement in the 50s and 60s
◉ The Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals (1967).
Answer: The first organization of personnel engaged in child life
work
◉ All Programs are guided by these two primary objectives. Answer:
1. to help children cope with the stress and anxiety of the hospital
experience
2. to promote the child's normal growth and development while in
the health care setting after returning hom
◉ Play. Answer: It is a mechanism through which children learn,
socialize, test their growing bodies, and, most importantly for
hospitalized children, it is a way they cope with the unfamiliar and
express their concerns.
,◉ overt or active response. Answer: crying, screaming, whining,
clinging to parents, resisting medicine, being self-destructive, being
destructive of the environment, fighting
◉ passive response. Answer: excessive sleeping
decreased communication
decreased activity
decreased eating
◉ regressive behavior. Answer: alterations in sleeping patterns
eating too much or too little
being tense, anxious, restless
manifesting fears (of hospitals, needles, death, ect.)
being overly concerned with one's body
displaying compulsive behavior
◉ Vernon, Foley, Sipowicz and Schulman (1965). Answer: drawn a
distinction between "immediate response" (behavior manifesting
itself during the hospitalization) and "post-hospital response".
◉ Prugh, Staub, Sands, Kirschbaum and Lenihan (1953). Answer:
Study that offers further evidence that a substantial percentage of
children may suffer psychological upset as a result of hospitalization
,◉ Skipper and Leonard (1968). Answer: explored the effects of
providing additional information and support to mothers of
hospitalized children
◉ Vernon et al (1965). Answer: -support the belief that
psychological preparation is an effective means of reducing post-
hospital upset
-found that only four of these determinants had been sufficiently
investigated to warrant summary and conclusion:
unfamiliarity of the hospital setting
separation from parents
age
prehospital experience
◉ Wolfer and Visintainer (1975). Answer: provided impressive
evidence that psychological preparation is an effective means of
lessening the upset of children during hospitalization as well as after
discharge
◉ Johnson, Kirchhoff and Endress (1975). Answer: found that
discrepancies between a child's expectations and the actual physical
sensations experiences produce distress in the child
, ◉ contagion hypothese. Answer: parental anxiety is transmitted to
the child, who then shows signs of stress
◉ Castler (1961). Answer: Institutionalized children who suffered
stimulus deprivation over prolonged periods demonstrated
profound delay in cognitive, physical, emotional and social
development
◉ Robertson (1958) and Bowlby (1960). Answer: Both describe a
series of three stages which characterize a young child's response to
seperation
◉ The 3 Phases of Separation. Answer: Protest, despair and
detachment
◉ Protest. Answer: During this period of acute distress, children cry,
scream and kick, all the while eagerly looking for signs of their
parent's return
◉ Despair. Answer: If parents do not return, children may enter a
period characterized by "increased hopelessness"
PRACTICE TEST QUESTIONS AND DETAILED
ANSWER EXPLANATIONS FULL REVIEW
◉ Mary Brooks. Answer: In Philadelphia, helped create the child life
movement in the 50s and 60s
◉ The Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals (1967).
Answer: The first organization of personnel engaged in child life
work
◉ All Programs are guided by these two primary objectives. Answer:
1. to help children cope with the stress and anxiety of the hospital
experience
2. to promote the child's normal growth and development while in
the health care setting after returning hom
◉ Play. Answer: It is a mechanism through which children learn,
socialize, test their growing bodies, and, most importantly for
hospitalized children, it is a way they cope with the unfamiliar and
express their concerns.
,◉ overt or active response. Answer: crying, screaming, whining,
clinging to parents, resisting medicine, being self-destructive, being
destructive of the environment, fighting
◉ passive response. Answer: excessive sleeping
decreased communication
decreased activity
decreased eating
◉ regressive behavior. Answer: alterations in sleeping patterns
eating too much or too little
being tense, anxious, restless
manifesting fears (of hospitals, needles, death, ect.)
being overly concerned with one's body
displaying compulsive behavior
◉ Vernon, Foley, Sipowicz and Schulman (1965). Answer: drawn a
distinction between "immediate response" (behavior manifesting
itself during the hospitalization) and "post-hospital response".
◉ Prugh, Staub, Sands, Kirschbaum and Lenihan (1953). Answer:
Study that offers further evidence that a substantial percentage of
children may suffer psychological upset as a result of hospitalization
,◉ Skipper and Leonard (1968). Answer: explored the effects of
providing additional information and support to mothers of
hospitalized children
◉ Vernon et al (1965). Answer: -support the belief that
psychological preparation is an effective means of reducing post-
hospital upset
-found that only four of these determinants had been sufficiently
investigated to warrant summary and conclusion:
unfamiliarity of the hospital setting
separation from parents
age
prehospital experience
◉ Wolfer and Visintainer (1975). Answer: provided impressive
evidence that psychological preparation is an effective means of
lessening the upset of children during hospitalization as well as after
discharge
◉ Johnson, Kirchhoff and Endress (1975). Answer: found that
discrepancies between a child's expectations and the actual physical
sensations experiences produce distress in the child
, ◉ contagion hypothese. Answer: parental anxiety is transmitted to
the child, who then shows signs of stress
◉ Castler (1961). Answer: Institutionalized children who suffered
stimulus deprivation over prolonged periods demonstrated
profound delay in cognitive, physical, emotional and social
development
◉ Robertson (1958) and Bowlby (1960). Answer: Both describe a
series of three stages which characterize a young child's response to
seperation
◉ The 3 Phases of Separation. Answer: Protest, despair and
detachment
◉ Protest. Answer: During this period of acute distress, children cry,
scream and kick, all the while eagerly looking for signs of their
parent's return
◉ Despair. Answer: If parents do not return, children may enter a
period characterized by "increased hopelessness"
