WGU D449 PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL
HEALTH NURSING
PRACTICE EXAM 2 – VERIFIED
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS &
RATIONALES 2025
Comprehensive Guide for Psychiatric Nursing Practice
Prepared for Western Governors University, Semester 1, 2025
Curated by Nursing Education Experts
,Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Psychiatric Nursing Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Question 1: Psychiatric Nurse Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Question 2: Therapeutic Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 Question 3: Mental Status Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4 Question 4: DSM-5 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 Question 5: Therapeutic Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.6 Question 6: Milieu Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.7 Question 7: De-escalation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.8 Question 8: Professional Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.9 Question 9: Mental Health Stigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.10 Question 10: Patient Advocacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.11 Question 11: Psychosocial Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.12 Question 12: Crisis Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.13 Question 13: Informed Consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.14 Question 14: Cultural Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.15 Question 15: Recovery Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.16 Question 16: Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.17 Question 17: Therapeutic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.18 Question 18: Ethical Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.19 Question 19: Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.20 Question 20: Nurse Self-Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Psychiatric Disorders and Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 Anxiety Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Mood Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Schizophrenia and Psychotic Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Substance Use Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 Personality Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6 Eating Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7 Trauma-Related Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.8 Child and Adolescent Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.9 Neurocognitive Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.10 Suicide and Self-Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Advanced Psychiatric Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1 Question 91: What is the role of the PMHNP in treatment planning? . 13
4.2 Question 92: How is patient empowerment promoted? . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3 Question 93: What is a challenge in psychiatric nursing? . . . . . . . . 13
4.4 Question 94: How is cultural competence applied? . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.5 Question 95: What is the role of evidence-based practice? . . . . . . . . 13
4.6 Question 96: How is patient safety monitored in inpatient settings? . 14
4.7 Question 97: What is the benefit of interdisciplinary teams? . . . . . . 14
4.8 Question 98: How is mental health stigma addressed? . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.9 Question 99: What is a side effect of atypical antipsychotics? . . . . . . 14
4.10 Question 100: How is therapeutic communication evaluated? . . . . . 14
4.11 Question 101: What is the role of crisis intervention teams? . . . . . . 14
4.12 Question 102: How is patient progress tracked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1
, WGU D449 Practice Exam 2 Semester 1 2025 July 5, 2025
4.13 Question 103: What is the benefit of trauma-informed care? . . . . . . 15
4.14 Question 104: How is group therapy facilitated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.15 Question 105: What is a challenge in psychopharmacology manage-
ment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.16 Question 106: How is relapse prevented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.17 Question 107: What is the role of the MSE in diagnosis? . . . . . . . . . 15
4.18 Question 108: How is patient confidentiality maintained? . . . . . . . . 15
4.19 Question 109: What is the benefit of motivational interviewing? . . . 15
4.20 Question 110: What is a priority in psychiatric nursing? . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Page 2 of 16
HEALTH NURSING
PRACTICE EXAM 2 – VERIFIED
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS &
RATIONALES 2025
Comprehensive Guide for Psychiatric Nursing Practice
Prepared for Western Governors University, Semester 1, 2025
Curated by Nursing Education Experts
,Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Psychiatric Nursing Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Question 1: Psychiatric Nurse Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Question 2: Therapeutic Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 Question 3: Mental Status Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4 Question 4: DSM-5 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 Question 5: Therapeutic Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.6 Question 6: Milieu Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.7 Question 7: De-escalation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.8 Question 8: Professional Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.9 Question 9: Mental Health Stigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.10 Question 10: Patient Advocacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.11 Question 11: Psychosocial Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.12 Question 12: Crisis Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.13 Question 13: Informed Consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.14 Question 14: Cultural Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.15 Question 15: Recovery Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.16 Question 16: Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.17 Question 17: Therapeutic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.18 Question 18: Ethical Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.19 Question 19: Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.20 Question 20: Nurse Self-Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Psychiatric Disorders and Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 Anxiety Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Mood Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Schizophrenia and Psychotic Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Substance Use Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 Personality Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6 Eating Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7 Trauma-Related Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.8 Child and Adolescent Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.9 Neurocognitive Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.10 Suicide and Self-Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Advanced Psychiatric Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1 Question 91: What is the role of the PMHNP in treatment planning? . 13
4.2 Question 92: How is patient empowerment promoted? . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3 Question 93: What is a challenge in psychiatric nursing? . . . . . . . . 13
4.4 Question 94: How is cultural competence applied? . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.5 Question 95: What is the role of evidence-based practice? . . . . . . . . 13
4.6 Question 96: How is patient safety monitored in inpatient settings? . 14
4.7 Question 97: What is the benefit of interdisciplinary teams? . . . . . . 14
4.8 Question 98: How is mental health stigma addressed? . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.9 Question 99: What is a side effect of atypical antipsychotics? . . . . . . 14
4.10 Question 100: How is therapeutic communication evaluated? . . . . . 14
4.11 Question 101: What is the role of crisis intervention teams? . . . . . . 14
4.12 Question 102: How is patient progress tracked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1
, WGU D449 Practice Exam 2 Semester 1 2025 July 5, 2025
4.13 Question 103: What is the benefit of trauma-informed care? . . . . . . 15
4.14 Question 104: How is group therapy facilitated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.15 Question 105: What is a challenge in psychopharmacology manage-
ment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.16 Question 106: How is relapse prevented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.17 Question 107: What is the role of the MSE in diagnosis? . . . . . . . . . 15
4.18 Question 108: How is patient confidentiality maintained? . . . . . . . . 15
4.19 Question 109: What is the benefit of motivational interviewing? . . . 15
4.20 Question 110: What is a priority in psychiatric nursing? . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Page 2 of 16
