NUR402 Gerontological Nursing: Comprehensive Exam Q-
Bank
1. A nurse states that her patient looks "like he's a hundred years old". Which
of the following does this statement reflect?
A. Perceived Age ✅
B. Chronological Age
C. Functional Age
D. Subjective Age
Rationale:
✅ Perceived age is how others estimate a person’s age based on
appearance.
Subjective age refers to how a person feels about their own age (e.g., "I feel
younger/older than I am").
Chronologic age = actual years since birth.
Functional age = assessed by independence, physiologic function, or
psychological/social ability.
2. A nursing student tells her preceptor that her elderly client is expressing
pain in her joints. The preceptor responds, "Oh, that's normal, it's just
because she's old." What type of discrimination does this reflect?
A. Sexism
B. Oldism
C. Ageism ✅
D. Seniorism
Rationale:
✅ Ageism = prejudice, stereotypes, or discrimination directed at individuals
based on age.
This assumes symptoms are “just aging” instead of possible treatable
pathology.
1
, NUR402 Gerontological Nursing: Comprehensive Exam Q-
Bank
3. The preceptor’s statement above also reflects what concept?
A. Age Attribution ✅
B. Senility Theory
C. Functional Consequences
D. Compression of Morbidity
Rationale:
✅ Age attribution = attributing problems automatically to the aging
process rather than evaluating for treatable causes.
Senility is an outdated/inaccurate term for dementia.
Functional consequences = observable effects of aging, risk factors, or
interventions.
Compression of morbidity = reducing years of disability before death.
4. A skipped-generation household is defined as a household in which
children <18 live with a grandparent without parents present. What are
common reasons?
✅ Child abuse, teen pregnancy, parental substance abuse, incarceration,
disability, mental illness, or death of parents.
5. Which of the following best describes cultural competence?
A. The application of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or personal attributes required
by nurses to maximize respectful relationships with diverse populations ✅
B. Considers the interrelationships between personal competence and the
environment
C. Health care services that are respectful of and responsive to linguistic needs
2
, NUR402 Gerontological Nursing: Comprehensive Exam Q-
Bank
D. A tool for gaining insight into the health-related values, beliefs, and practices
one holds
Rationale:
✅ A = Cultural competence.
B = Person–Environment Fit Theory.
C = Linguistic competence.
D = Cultural self-assessment.
6. Which paradigm is described: Forces of nature must be kept in balance;
health is harmony; disease is imbalance between human, geophysical, and
metaphysical forces?
A. Magico-Religious Paradigm
B. Biomedical Paradigm
C. Holistic Paradigm ✅
D. Harmonious Paradigm
Rationale:
✅ Holistic paradigm views health as balance/harmony within self, nature,
and universe.
Biomedical = disease-focused, physical pathology.
Magico-religious = supernatural forces cause illness.
7. South Asians have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, and earlier
strokes than the general Canadian population. This is an example of:
A. Health Paradigm
B. Cultural Sensitivity
C. Health Disparity ✅
D. Health Inequity
3
Bank
1. A nurse states that her patient looks "like he's a hundred years old". Which
of the following does this statement reflect?
A. Perceived Age ✅
B. Chronological Age
C. Functional Age
D. Subjective Age
Rationale:
✅ Perceived age is how others estimate a person’s age based on
appearance.
Subjective age refers to how a person feels about their own age (e.g., "I feel
younger/older than I am").
Chronologic age = actual years since birth.
Functional age = assessed by independence, physiologic function, or
psychological/social ability.
2. A nursing student tells her preceptor that her elderly client is expressing
pain in her joints. The preceptor responds, "Oh, that's normal, it's just
because she's old." What type of discrimination does this reflect?
A. Sexism
B. Oldism
C. Ageism ✅
D. Seniorism
Rationale:
✅ Ageism = prejudice, stereotypes, or discrimination directed at individuals
based on age.
This assumes symptoms are “just aging” instead of possible treatable
pathology.
1
, NUR402 Gerontological Nursing: Comprehensive Exam Q-
Bank
3. The preceptor’s statement above also reflects what concept?
A. Age Attribution ✅
B. Senility Theory
C. Functional Consequences
D. Compression of Morbidity
Rationale:
✅ Age attribution = attributing problems automatically to the aging
process rather than evaluating for treatable causes.
Senility is an outdated/inaccurate term for dementia.
Functional consequences = observable effects of aging, risk factors, or
interventions.
Compression of morbidity = reducing years of disability before death.
4. A skipped-generation household is defined as a household in which
children <18 live with a grandparent without parents present. What are
common reasons?
✅ Child abuse, teen pregnancy, parental substance abuse, incarceration,
disability, mental illness, or death of parents.
5. Which of the following best describes cultural competence?
A. The application of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or personal attributes required
by nurses to maximize respectful relationships with diverse populations ✅
B. Considers the interrelationships between personal competence and the
environment
C. Health care services that are respectful of and responsive to linguistic needs
2
, NUR402 Gerontological Nursing: Comprehensive Exam Q-
Bank
D. A tool for gaining insight into the health-related values, beliefs, and practices
one holds
Rationale:
✅ A = Cultural competence.
B = Person–Environment Fit Theory.
C = Linguistic competence.
D = Cultural self-assessment.
6. Which paradigm is described: Forces of nature must be kept in balance;
health is harmony; disease is imbalance between human, geophysical, and
metaphysical forces?
A. Magico-Religious Paradigm
B. Biomedical Paradigm
C. Holistic Paradigm ✅
D. Harmonious Paradigm
Rationale:
✅ Holistic paradigm views health as balance/harmony within self, nature,
and universe.
Biomedical = disease-focused, physical pathology.
Magico-religious = supernatural forces cause illness.
7. South Asians have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, and earlier
strokes than the general Canadian population. This is an example of:
A. Health Paradigm
B. Cultural Sensitivity
C. Health Disparity ✅
D. Health Inequity
3
