Public Health Nursing: Population -
Centered Health Care in the
Community (10th Edition) by Marcia
Stanhope WITH QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS & RATONALE UPDATED 2026
1. Which core public health function involves gathering and analyzing data to identify health trends
in a community?
A. Policy development
B. Assurance
C. Assessment
D. Advocacy
Rationale: Assessment is the core public health function that involves systematic data collection and
analysis to monitor community health status, identify health problems, and investigate health
hazards. Policy development involves creating solutions, while assurance ensures service availability.
2. A public health nurse (PHN) partners with a local school to develop a diabetes prevention program
for Hispanic families. This action best exemplifies which principle of public health nursing?
A. Primary prevention at the individual level
B. Focusing on acute care interventions
C. Population-centered practice with community participation
D. Tertiary prevention in institutional settings
Rationale: Stanhope emphasizes that public health nursing is population-centered and requires
partnership with communities. Working with schools and specific cultural groups to prevent disease
exemplifies community-level primary prevention and participatory approaches.
3. According to the Minnesota Wheel, which intervention is classified as "Surveillance"?
A. Providing diabetes education to a support group
B. Tracking influenza cases across the county
,C. Developing smoke-free workplace policies
D. Counseling a pregnant teen about nutrition
Rationale: Surveillance involves describing and monitoring health events through ongoing systematic
collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data. Tracking disease cases fits this definition,
whereas counseling is a personal-level intervention and policy development is a different
intervention category.
4. Which statistic best represents the burden of disease in a population, accounting for both
mortality and morbidity?
A. Crude mortality rate
B. Case fatality rate
C. Disability-adjusted life year (DALY)
D. Attack rate
Rationale: DALYs measure the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation,
combining years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with disability. This provides a
comprehensive measure of disease burden.
5. A PHN notes that 45% of children in the district lack required immunizations. This represents
which type of health indicator?
A. Sentinel event
B. Rate/ratio
C. Health disparity
D. Social determinant
Rationale: This percentage represents a proportion (rate) of the population affected by a specific
health condition (under-immunization). While it may indicate disparities, the statistic itself is a rate
measure.
6. During a community assessment, a PHN analyzes census data, crime statistics, and school lunch
program enrollment. This analysis represents the:
A. Windshield survey
B. Key informant interviews
,C. Secondary data analysis
D. Primary data collection
Rationale: Secondary data analysis involves examining existing data collected for other purposes
(census, police records, school records). Primary data would involve direct collection through
surveys or observations by the nurse.
7. Which model guides nurses to examine community health through the lens of location,
population, and social systems?
A. Epidemiologic Triangle
B. Health Belief Model
C. Community as Partner Model (Anderson & McFarlane)
D. Transtheoretical Model
Rationale: The Community as Partner Model (based on the work of Anderson and McFarlane,
featured in Stanhope) uses a systems approach with eight subsystems (physical environment,
health/social services, economy, etc.) to analyze community health.
8. A community has high rates of cardiovascular disease. The PHN implements free blood pressure
screening at grocery stores. This is an example of:
A. Primary prevention
B. Secondary prevention
C. Tertiary prevention
D. Primary health care
Rationale: Secondary prevention focuses on early detection and treatment of disease through
screening. Primary prevention would aim to prevent hypertension from developing; tertiary would
focus on managing existing CVD complications.
9. The "Healthy People 2030" framework prioritizes which approach to health improvement?
A. Disease treatment accessibility
B. Social determinants of health and health equity
C. Individual lifestyle counseling
D. Acute care reduction
, Rationale: Healthy People 2030 emphasizes addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) to
achieve health equity, focusing on five domains: economic stability, education access, health care
access, neighborhood environment, and social/community context.
10. Which federal agency is primarily responsible for disease surveillance and epidemiologic
investigation in the United States?
A. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
B. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
C. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
D. FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
Rationale: The CDC serves as the national public health agency responsible for protecting public
health through disease control and prevention, health promotion, and preparedness activities.
11. A PHN uses the "Health Impact Pyramid" to plan interventions. Which intervention is at the base
(broadest impact) of the pyramid?
A. Clinical counseling
B. Screening programs
C. Socioeconomic factors and environmental changes
D. Long-term protective treatments
Rationale: Frieden's Health Impact Pyramid places socioeconomic factors (poverty, education,
housing) and environmental changes at the base because they have the greatest population impact
with the least individual effort required.
12. When conducting a windshield survey, the PHN should prioritize observation of:
A. Individual health records
B. Community attitudes and beliefs
C. Physical environment and infrastructure
D. Laboratory surveillance data
Centered Health Care in the
Community (10th Edition) by Marcia
Stanhope WITH QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS & RATONALE UPDATED 2026
1. Which core public health function involves gathering and analyzing data to identify health trends
in a community?
A. Policy development
B. Assurance
C. Assessment
D. Advocacy
Rationale: Assessment is the core public health function that involves systematic data collection and
analysis to monitor community health status, identify health problems, and investigate health
hazards. Policy development involves creating solutions, while assurance ensures service availability.
2. A public health nurse (PHN) partners with a local school to develop a diabetes prevention program
for Hispanic families. This action best exemplifies which principle of public health nursing?
A. Primary prevention at the individual level
B. Focusing on acute care interventions
C. Population-centered practice with community participation
D. Tertiary prevention in institutional settings
Rationale: Stanhope emphasizes that public health nursing is population-centered and requires
partnership with communities. Working with schools and specific cultural groups to prevent disease
exemplifies community-level primary prevention and participatory approaches.
3. According to the Minnesota Wheel, which intervention is classified as "Surveillance"?
A. Providing diabetes education to a support group
B. Tracking influenza cases across the county
,C. Developing smoke-free workplace policies
D. Counseling a pregnant teen about nutrition
Rationale: Surveillance involves describing and monitoring health events through ongoing systematic
collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data. Tracking disease cases fits this definition,
whereas counseling is a personal-level intervention and policy development is a different
intervention category.
4. Which statistic best represents the burden of disease in a population, accounting for both
mortality and morbidity?
A. Crude mortality rate
B. Case fatality rate
C. Disability-adjusted life year (DALY)
D. Attack rate
Rationale: DALYs measure the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation,
combining years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with disability. This provides a
comprehensive measure of disease burden.
5. A PHN notes that 45% of children in the district lack required immunizations. This represents
which type of health indicator?
A. Sentinel event
B. Rate/ratio
C. Health disparity
D. Social determinant
Rationale: This percentage represents a proportion (rate) of the population affected by a specific
health condition (under-immunization). While it may indicate disparities, the statistic itself is a rate
measure.
6. During a community assessment, a PHN analyzes census data, crime statistics, and school lunch
program enrollment. This analysis represents the:
A. Windshield survey
B. Key informant interviews
,C. Secondary data analysis
D. Primary data collection
Rationale: Secondary data analysis involves examining existing data collected for other purposes
(census, police records, school records). Primary data would involve direct collection through
surveys or observations by the nurse.
7. Which model guides nurses to examine community health through the lens of location,
population, and social systems?
A. Epidemiologic Triangle
B. Health Belief Model
C. Community as Partner Model (Anderson & McFarlane)
D. Transtheoretical Model
Rationale: The Community as Partner Model (based on the work of Anderson and McFarlane,
featured in Stanhope) uses a systems approach with eight subsystems (physical environment,
health/social services, economy, etc.) to analyze community health.
8. A community has high rates of cardiovascular disease. The PHN implements free blood pressure
screening at grocery stores. This is an example of:
A. Primary prevention
B. Secondary prevention
C. Tertiary prevention
D. Primary health care
Rationale: Secondary prevention focuses on early detection and treatment of disease through
screening. Primary prevention would aim to prevent hypertension from developing; tertiary would
focus on managing existing CVD complications.
9. The "Healthy People 2030" framework prioritizes which approach to health improvement?
A. Disease treatment accessibility
B. Social determinants of health and health equity
C. Individual lifestyle counseling
D. Acute care reduction
, Rationale: Healthy People 2030 emphasizes addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) to
achieve health equity, focusing on five domains: economic stability, education access, health care
access, neighborhood environment, and social/community context.
10. Which federal agency is primarily responsible for disease surveillance and epidemiologic
investigation in the United States?
A. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
B. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
C. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
D. FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
Rationale: The CDC serves as the national public health agency responsible for protecting public
health through disease control and prevention, health promotion, and preparedness activities.
11. A PHN uses the "Health Impact Pyramid" to plan interventions. Which intervention is at the base
(broadest impact) of the pyramid?
A. Clinical counseling
B. Screening programs
C. Socioeconomic factors and environmental changes
D. Long-term protective treatments
Rationale: Frieden's Health Impact Pyramid places socioeconomic factors (poverty, education,
housing) and environmental changes at the base because they have the greatest population impact
with the least individual effort required.
12. When conducting a windshield survey, the PHN should prioritize observation of:
A. Individual health records
B. Community attitudes and beliefs
C. Physical environment and infrastructure
D. Laboratory surveillance data
