Psychiatric Nursing: Contemporary Practice, 7th Edition (Boyd &
Luebbert)
Comprehensive Test Bank - Chapter 1: Psychiatric–Mental Health
Nursing and Evidence-Based Practice 2026
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. A group of nurses are reviewing information about the evolution of mental health care and are
discussing the recommendations of the final report of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and
Health. The nurses demonstrate an understanding of this information when they identify that the report
recommended an increase in what?
A. Number of mental health hospitals
B. Institutionalization of clients with mental health problems
C. Number of clinics supplemented by general hospital units
D. Use of psychotherapy by psychiatrists
ANSWER✔: C
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): The report did not recommend increasing the number of mental health hospitals.
This would have been contrary to the shift toward community-based care that the report advocated.
Option B (Incorrect): Institutionalization was not recommended as this was the very practice the report
sought to reform. The report recognized that institutionalization often contributed to the chronicity of
mental illness rather than promoting recovery.
,Option C (Correct): The final report of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health, titled "Action
for Mental Health," recommended increased numbers of community clinics supplemented by general
hospital units for mental illness care. This recommendation shifted responsibility for mental health care
to federal, state, and local governments and marked a significant movement toward community-based
treatment .
Option D (Incorrect): While psychotherapy was recognized as valuable, the report's primary
recommendation focused on structural changes to the mental health care delivery system rather than
specifically increasing the use of psychotherapy by psychiatrists.
2. A nurse is reviewing literature that sanctions the involvement of psychiatric–mental health nurses in
the provision of holistic nursing care. Integrating knowledge of the various theories and views of mental
health and illness, the nurse identifies which as most strongly linked to this holistic approach?
A. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory
B. Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing
C. Lavinia Lloyd Dock's Materia Medica for Nurses
D. Clifford Beers' A Mind That Found Itself
ANSWER✔: B
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): Freud's psychoanalytic theory focused primarily on personality development,
unconscious motivations, and drives. While influential in psychiatric nursing, it did not emphasize the
holistic approach to patient care that encompasses the patient's environment, family, and community.
Option B (Correct): The American Nurses Association's Statement on Psychiatric Nursing Practice (1967)
officially sanctioned a holistic approach to nursing care. The roots of this contemporary psychiatric–
mental health nursing thought can be traced to Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing, which
presented a holistic view of the patient as living within a family and community environment .
,Option C (Incorrect): Lavinia Lloyd Dock's Materia Medica for Nurses was a pharmacology reference for
nurses and did not address holistic nursing philosophy or the psychiatric nursing perspective.
Option D (Incorrect): Clifford Beers' autobiography "A Mind That Found Itself" described inhumane
treatments for mental illness and led to the formation of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene,
but it did not specifically establish the holistic approach to nursing care.
3. A nursing instructor is preparing a presentation about key events and people that influenced the
development of contemporary mental health and illness care. When describing the effects of World War
II, which of the following would the instructor most likely include?
A. People began to view mental illness as more commonplace and acceptable
B. The biologic understanding of mental illness was almost fully developed
C. Deinstitutionalization occurred in response to the community health movement
D. Mental illnesses became categorized as psychoses or neuroses
ANSWER✔: A
Rationale:
Option A (Correct): World War II significantly influenced public perception of mental illness. The war
effort included psychiatric screening of military recruits, which revealed that many individuals had
mental health issues. This helped normalize mental illness and made it more acceptable to discuss
publicly .
Option B (Incorrect): The biologic understanding of mental illness was not fully developed during or
immediately after World War II. Understanding of the biological basis of mental illness continued to
evolve over subsequent decades with advances in neuroscience and psychopharmacology.
Option C (Incorrect): Deinstitutionalization occurred later, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, as a result
of the community mental health movement. While World War II contributed to changing attitudes,
deinstitutionalization was a later development.
, Option D (Incorrect): The categorization of mental illnesses as psychoses or neuroses was already
established before World War II, having been influenced by earlier psychiatric classification systems.
4. A nursing student is presenting a discussion of the history of psychiatric–mental health nursing and its
place within nursing history. Which of the following would be most appropriate to include?
A. Certification for the psychiatric–mental health nursing specialty was first emphasized by Mary
Adelaide Nutting
B. Psychiatric nurses played a part in seeing that all deinstitutionalized patients got treatment at
community mental health centers
C. There is a historical link between the first nursing program to admit male students and the first
training school for psychiatric nursing
D. The first graduate program in psychiatric nursing was established in response to the publication of
psychiatric nursing specialty journals
ANSWER✔: C
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): While Mary Adelaide Nutting made significant contributions to nursing education,
certification for the psychiatric–mental health nursing specialty was not first emphasized by her.
Certification developed later through the American Nurses Association.
Option B (Incorrect): Psychiatric nurses were involved in community mental health, but not all
deinstitutionalized patients received treatment at community mental health centers due to inadequate
funding, lack of services, and other barriers.
Option C (Correct): There is a historical link between the first nursing program to admit male students
and the first training school for psychiatric nursing. Psychiatric nursing was one of the earliest areas of
nursing to admit male students.
Option D (Incorrect): The first graduate program in psychiatric nursing was established at Rutgers
University in the 1950s, not in response to the publication of specialty journals but rather to meet the
growing need for advanced practice psychiatric nurses.
Luebbert)
Comprehensive Test Bank - Chapter 1: Psychiatric–Mental Health
Nursing and Evidence-Based Practice 2026
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. A group of nurses are reviewing information about the evolution of mental health care and are
discussing the recommendations of the final report of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and
Health. The nurses demonstrate an understanding of this information when they identify that the report
recommended an increase in what?
A. Number of mental health hospitals
B. Institutionalization of clients with mental health problems
C. Number of clinics supplemented by general hospital units
D. Use of psychotherapy by psychiatrists
ANSWER✔: C
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): The report did not recommend increasing the number of mental health hospitals.
This would have been contrary to the shift toward community-based care that the report advocated.
Option B (Incorrect): Institutionalization was not recommended as this was the very practice the report
sought to reform. The report recognized that institutionalization often contributed to the chronicity of
mental illness rather than promoting recovery.
,Option C (Correct): The final report of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health, titled "Action
for Mental Health," recommended increased numbers of community clinics supplemented by general
hospital units for mental illness care. This recommendation shifted responsibility for mental health care
to federal, state, and local governments and marked a significant movement toward community-based
treatment .
Option D (Incorrect): While psychotherapy was recognized as valuable, the report's primary
recommendation focused on structural changes to the mental health care delivery system rather than
specifically increasing the use of psychotherapy by psychiatrists.
2. A nurse is reviewing literature that sanctions the involvement of psychiatric–mental health nurses in
the provision of holistic nursing care. Integrating knowledge of the various theories and views of mental
health and illness, the nurse identifies which as most strongly linked to this holistic approach?
A. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory
B. Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing
C. Lavinia Lloyd Dock's Materia Medica for Nurses
D. Clifford Beers' A Mind That Found Itself
ANSWER✔: B
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): Freud's psychoanalytic theory focused primarily on personality development,
unconscious motivations, and drives. While influential in psychiatric nursing, it did not emphasize the
holistic approach to patient care that encompasses the patient's environment, family, and community.
Option B (Correct): The American Nurses Association's Statement on Psychiatric Nursing Practice (1967)
officially sanctioned a holistic approach to nursing care. The roots of this contemporary psychiatric–
mental health nursing thought can be traced to Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing, which
presented a holistic view of the patient as living within a family and community environment .
,Option C (Incorrect): Lavinia Lloyd Dock's Materia Medica for Nurses was a pharmacology reference for
nurses and did not address holistic nursing philosophy or the psychiatric nursing perspective.
Option D (Incorrect): Clifford Beers' autobiography "A Mind That Found Itself" described inhumane
treatments for mental illness and led to the formation of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene,
but it did not specifically establish the holistic approach to nursing care.
3. A nursing instructor is preparing a presentation about key events and people that influenced the
development of contemporary mental health and illness care. When describing the effects of World War
II, which of the following would the instructor most likely include?
A. People began to view mental illness as more commonplace and acceptable
B. The biologic understanding of mental illness was almost fully developed
C. Deinstitutionalization occurred in response to the community health movement
D. Mental illnesses became categorized as psychoses or neuroses
ANSWER✔: A
Rationale:
Option A (Correct): World War II significantly influenced public perception of mental illness. The war
effort included psychiatric screening of military recruits, which revealed that many individuals had
mental health issues. This helped normalize mental illness and made it more acceptable to discuss
publicly .
Option B (Incorrect): The biologic understanding of mental illness was not fully developed during or
immediately after World War II. Understanding of the biological basis of mental illness continued to
evolve over subsequent decades with advances in neuroscience and psychopharmacology.
Option C (Incorrect): Deinstitutionalization occurred later, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, as a result
of the community mental health movement. While World War II contributed to changing attitudes,
deinstitutionalization was a later development.
, Option D (Incorrect): The categorization of mental illnesses as psychoses or neuroses was already
established before World War II, having been influenced by earlier psychiatric classification systems.
4. A nursing student is presenting a discussion of the history of psychiatric–mental health nursing and its
place within nursing history. Which of the following would be most appropriate to include?
A. Certification for the psychiatric–mental health nursing specialty was first emphasized by Mary
Adelaide Nutting
B. Psychiatric nurses played a part in seeing that all deinstitutionalized patients got treatment at
community mental health centers
C. There is a historical link between the first nursing program to admit male students and the first
training school for psychiatric nursing
D. The first graduate program in psychiatric nursing was established in response to the publication of
psychiatric nursing specialty journals
ANSWER✔: C
Rationale:
Option A (Incorrect): While Mary Adelaide Nutting made significant contributions to nursing education,
certification for the psychiatric–mental health nursing specialty was not first emphasized by her.
Certification developed later through the American Nurses Association.
Option B (Incorrect): Psychiatric nurses were involved in community mental health, but not all
deinstitutionalized patients received treatment at community mental health centers due to inadequate
funding, lack of services, and other barriers.
Option C (Correct): There is a historical link between the first nursing program to admit male students
and the first training school for psychiatric nursing. Psychiatric nursing was one of the earliest areas of
nursing to admit male students.
Option D (Incorrect): The first graduate program in psychiatric nursing was established at Rutgers
University in the 1950s, not in response to the publication of specialty journals but rather to meet the
growing need for advanced practice psychiatric nurses.
