HERZING NSG 526 PRACTICE EXAM 3:
FAMILY NURSING QUESTIONS &
VERIFIED ANSWERS | GUARANTEE
PASS 2026/2027
1. A nurse practitioner is working with a family where the parents are overly involved in their
adult son’s life, making decisions for him and reacting intensely to his moods. According to
Bowenian Family Theory, this lack of emotional boundary represents which concept?
A. Undifferentiated family ego mass
B. Triangulation
C. Emotional cutoff
D. Multigenerational transmission process
Answer: A
Conceptual Explanation: The term ‘undifferentiated family ego mass’ refers to a family’s
lack of emotional boundaries where members are so fused that individual autonomy is lost.
2. During a structural family therapy session, the therapist notices the father remains silent
while the mother and daughter argue, but the father later signals the daughter to continue
her behavior by winking at her. Minuchin would identify this as:
A. A rigid boundary
,B. Enmeshment
C. A covert coalition
D. Detouring
Answer: C
Conceptual Explanation: A covert coalition occurs when a parent and child form a secret
alliance against the other parent, undermining the parental subsystem’s authority.
3. Which intervention is most characteristic of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) when a
family describes their problems as insurmountable?
A. Constructing a three-generation genogram
B. The use of the miracle question
C. Reframing the problem as a symptom of a larger system
D. Identifying the family’s hierarchy and boundaries
Answer: B
Conceptual Explanation: The ‘miracle question’ helps clients envision a future without the
problem, shifting the focus from pathology to solutions and goals.
4. In Strategic Family Therapy, when a therapist directs a family to engage in the very
behavior they are complaining about, such as arguing for 20 minutes every evening, this is
known as:
A. A paradoxical intervention
, B. Positive connotation
C. Symptom displacement
D. Restructuring
Answer: A
Conceptual Explanation: A paradoxical intervention (or prescribing the symptom) is used
to help the family realize they have control over the behavior or to provoke resistance that
leads to change.
5. A family enters therapy because the adolescent son has been arrested for shoplifting. The
nurse practitioner observes the mother crying and the father stating, ‘It doesn’t matter what I
think, she’s the one in charge.’ According to Virginia Satir, the father’s communication style
is:
A. Blaming
B. Distracting
C. Computing
D. Placating
Answer: D
Conceptual Explanation: Placating is a communication stance where the individual acts as
a ‘yes man’ to avoid conflict and please others, often at the expense of their own self-worth.
FAMILY NURSING QUESTIONS &
VERIFIED ANSWERS | GUARANTEE
PASS 2026/2027
1. A nurse practitioner is working with a family where the parents are overly involved in their
adult son’s life, making decisions for him and reacting intensely to his moods. According to
Bowenian Family Theory, this lack of emotional boundary represents which concept?
A. Undifferentiated family ego mass
B. Triangulation
C. Emotional cutoff
D. Multigenerational transmission process
Answer: A
Conceptual Explanation: The term ‘undifferentiated family ego mass’ refers to a family’s
lack of emotional boundaries where members are so fused that individual autonomy is lost.
2. During a structural family therapy session, the therapist notices the father remains silent
while the mother and daughter argue, but the father later signals the daughter to continue
her behavior by winking at her. Minuchin would identify this as:
A. A rigid boundary
,B. Enmeshment
C. A covert coalition
D. Detouring
Answer: C
Conceptual Explanation: A covert coalition occurs when a parent and child form a secret
alliance against the other parent, undermining the parental subsystem’s authority.
3. Which intervention is most characteristic of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) when a
family describes their problems as insurmountable?
A. Constructing a three-generation genogram
B. The use of the miracle question
C. Reframing the problem as a symptom of a larger system
D. Identifying the family’s hierarchy and boundaries
Answer: B
Conceptual Explanation: The ‘miracle question’ helps clients envision a future without the
problem, shifting the focus from pathology to solutions and goals.
4. In Strategic Family Therapy, when a therapist directs a family to engage in the very
behavior they are complaining about, such as arguing for 20 minutes every evening, this is
known as:
A. A paradoxical intervention
, B. Positive connotation
C. Symptom displacement
D. Restructuring
Answer: A
Conceptual Explanation: A paradoxical intervention (or prescribing the symptom) is used
to help the family realize they have control over the behavior or to provoke resistance that
leads to change.
5. A family enters therapy because the adolescent son has been arrested for shoplifting. The
nurse practitioner observes the mother crying and the father stating, ‘It doesn’t matter what I
think, she’s the one in charge.’ According to Virginia Satir, the father’s communication style
is:
A. Blaming
B. Distracting
C. Computing
D. Placating
Answer: D
Conceptual Explanation: Placating is a communication stance where the individual acts as
a ‘yes man’ to avoid conflict and please others, often at the expense of their own self-worth.
