Chapter 01
1. The contribution of Linda Richards that remains a part of contemporary psychiatric nursing practice is the idea
that: [Multiple Choice]
a. psychiatric nurses should have advanced preparation.
b. nurses should assess both the physical and the emotional needs of patients. ✔
c. psychotic behavior must be controlled before serious psychotherapy begins.
d. basic physical needs must always be met before emotional needs are addressed.
ANS: B
Early nursing education made a distinction between physical and emotional needs, and nurses were taught in
either a general hospital or a psychiatric hospital. Richards maintained that nurses should be competent to assess
both physical and emotional needs.
2. Hildegard Peplau?s classic article ?Interpersonal Techniques: The Crux of Psychiatric Nursing? directed
psychiatric nursing?s future growth by stating that the primary role of the psychiatric nurse was that of: [Multiple
Choice]
a. leader.
b. teacher.
c. counselor. ✔
d. surrogate parent.
ANS: C
Hildegard Peplau?s 1962 article identified the heart of psychiatric nursing as fulfillment of the role of counselor or
psychotherapist.
3. When teaching the orientation portion of a psychiatric nursing course, which statement would the instructor
be most likely to make to the students? [Multiple Choice]
a. “There is one approved theoretical framework for psychiatric nursing practice.”
b. “Psychiatric nursing has yet to be recognized as a core mental health discipline.”
c. “Contemporary practice of psychiatric nursing is primarily focused on inpatient care.”
d. “The psychiatric nursing patient may be an individual, a family, a group, or even a community.” ✔
ANS: D
,Psychiatric nursing is concerned with individuals, families, groups, and entire communities. The other statements
listed are false.
4. The role of the psychiatric nurse in today?s contemporary practice settings is: [Multiple Choice]
a. centered on the nurse-patient partnership. ✔
b. concentrated on psychosomatic therapies.
c. centered on management of the patient’s daily needs.
d. caring for chronically ill psychiatric patients in acute-care settings.
ANS: A
The role of the psychiatric nurse today is multifocused. The psychiatric nurse must have a broader perspective on
patient needs, psychiatric needs, personal needs, financial needs, and legal needs that encompass the patient?s
quality of life.
5. A psychiatric aide says, ?I don't know why that patient does all that silly giggling and posturing. It?s senseless!?
The best reply to this comment would address the psychiatric nursing principle that states: [Multiple Choice]
a. every individual has the potential to change.
b. illness can be a growth-producing experience for the individual.
c. all behavior is meaningful, arising from personal needs and goals. ✔
d. everyone has the right to self-determination that includes the pursuit of health.
ANS: C
This principle best addresses the aide?s comment that the patient?s behavior is ?senseless? by explaining that all
behavior has meaning that can be understood when the patient?s internal frame of reference and the context of
the situation are known.
6. New opportunities for psychiatric nursing practice have emerged as psychiatric hospitals have changed from
large institutions providing custodial care to: [Multiple Choice]
a. small units providing acute inpatient care.
b. integrated clinical systems providing a full continuum of care. ✔
c. community-based home care systems focused on the chronically mentally ill.
d. agencies more concerned with mental health promotion than providing direct care.
ANS: B
Alternative treatment settings have emerged throughout the continuum of mental health care, and hospitals have
,responded by creating integrated clinical systems that provide inpatient care, partial hospitalization, day
treatment, residential care, home care, and ambulatory care as part of the parent organization. Psychiatric nurses
provide care in each of these settings as well as in community-based treatment settings such as shelters, schools,
and HMOs.
7. A nurse states, ?I plan ways for patients assigned to me to participate in their own care and to be actively
involved in all of the activities on the unit.? This approach demonstrates the concept of: [Multiple Choice]
a. social accountability.
b. therapeutic community. ✔
c. nurse-patient relationship.
d. multidisciplinary mental health team.
ANS: B
Maxwell Jones published The Therapeutic Community in 1953. It encouraged making use of the patient?s social
environment as a means of providing therapeutic experiences.
8. It is essential that psychiatric nurses become aware of their ability in the area of positive political action. The
nurse can best achieve this goal by: [Multiple Choice]
a. raising donations for a local community health center.
b. becoming involved in an election campaign for a local sheriff.
c. becoming an active volunteer working regularly at a crisis center.
d. working on a city committee to help register local voters. ✔
ANS: D
For a psychiatric nurse to be politically active, helping others to become involved in their local area is a good step
toward political awareness. Raising donations would be health care related rather than political action.
Involvement in specific election campaigns would not have a direct correlation with psychiatric mental health
issues, and being an active volunteer would be beneficial to the community that the crisis center serves but not a
direct political action.
9. During orientation to the inpatient psychiatric unit, new staff members are told, ?Address all patients by their
title and surname unless you are directed by the patient to do otherwise.? The belief that underlies this directive
is that: [Multiple Choice]
a. every person is worthy of respect. ✔
b. every individual has the potential to change.
c. the goals of the individual are growth, health, autonomy, and self-actualization.
, d. the person functions as a holistic being who reacts to the environment as a whole person.
ANS: A
Addressing an individual using his or her title and surname implies dignity and worth and conveys respect.
10. When considering psychiatric nursing roles and functions, in order to delegate effectively the nurse must have
knowledge of the domains of: (Select all that apply.) [Multiple Response]
a. management. ✔
b. communication.
c. direct care. ✔
d. teaching.
e. collaboration.
ANS: A, C
Delegation includes the domains of management and direct care. Collaboration includes management and
communication; teaching includes direct care and communication; and coordination includes direct care,
communication, and management. Teaching and collaboration are not specific to psychiatric nursing delegation.
11. A psychiatric nurse uses leadership skills to strengthen the profession by: [Multiple Choice]
a. working as a change agent advocating for patients, families, and communities. ✔
b. volunteering time each week to outpatient clinics in poor neighborhoods.
c. voting for candidates in local elections who will advocate for nurses.
d. working for state government representatives at local voting sites.
ANS: A
Psychiatric nurse leaders need to be change agents who work not only in the profession but also with other
interdisciplinary colleagues to advance the care of patients with psychiatric disorders.
12. To derive the theoretical framework of psychiatric nursing, knowledge from which sciences is included?
(Select all that apply.) [Multiple Response]
a. Psychosocial ✔
b. Biophysical ✔
c. Personality behavior ✔
d. Human behavior ✔
1. The contribution of Linda Richards that remains a part of contemporary psychiatric nursing practice is the idea
that: [Multiple Choice]
a. psychiatric nurses should have advanced preparation.
b. nurses should assess both the physical and the emotional needs of patients. ✔
c. psychotic behavior must be controlled before serious psychotherapy begins.
d. basic physical needs must always be met before emotional needs are addressed.
ANS: B
Early nursing education made a distinction between physical and emotional needs, and nurses were taught in
either a general hospital or a psychiatric hospital. Richards maintained that nurses should be competent to assess
both physical and emotional needs.
2. Hildegard Peplau?s classic article ?Interpersonal Techniques: The Crux of Psychiatric Nursing? directed
psychiatric nursing?s future growth by stating that the primary role of the psychiatric nurse was that of: [Multiple
Choice]
a. leader.
b. teacher.
c. counselor. ✔
d. surrogate parent.
ANS: C
Hildegard Peplau?s 1962 article identified the heart of psychiatric nursing as fulfillment of the role of counselor or
psychotherapist.
3. When teaching the orientation portion of a psychiatric nursing course, which statement would the instructor
be most likely to make to the students? [Multiple Choice]
a. “There is one approved theoretical framework for psychiatric nursing practice.”
b. “Psychiatric nursing has yet to be recognized as a core mental health discipline.”
c. “Contemporary practice of psychiatric nursing is primarily focused on inpatient care.”
d. “The psychiatric nursing patient may be an individual, a family, a group, or even a community.” ✔
ANS: D
,Psychiatric nursing is concerned with individuals, families, groups, and entire communities. The other statements
listed are false.
4. The role of the psychiatric nurse in today?s contemporary practice settings is: [Multiple Choice]
a. centered on the nurse-patient partnership. ✔
b. concentrated on psychosomatic therapies.
c. centered on management of the patient’s daily needs.
d. caring for chronically ill psychiatric patients in acute-care settings.
ANS: A
The role of the psychiatric nurse today is multifocused. The psychiatric nurse must have a broader perspective on
patient needs, psychiatric needs, personal needs, financial needs, and legal needs that encompass the patient?s
quality of life.
5. A psychiatric aide says, ?I don't know why that patient does all that silly giggling and posturing. It?s senseless!?
The best reply to this comment would address the psychiatric nursing principle that states: [Multiple Choice]
a. every individual has the potential to change.
b. illness can be a growth-producing experience for the individual.
c. all behavior is meaningful, arising from personal needs and goals. ✔
d. everyone has the right to self-determination that includes the pursuit of health.
ANS: C
This principle best addresses the aide?s comment that the patient?s behavior is ?senseless? by explaining that all
behavior has meaning that can be understood when the patient?s internal frame of reference and the context of
the situation are known.
6. New opportunities for psychiatric nursing practice have emerged as psychiatric hospitals have changed from
large institutions providing custodial care to: [Multiple Choice]
a. small units providing acute inpatient care.
b. integrated clinical systems providing a full continuum of care. ✔
c. community-based home care systems focused on the chronically mentally ill.
d. agencies more concerned with mental health promotion than providing direct care.
ANS: B
Alternative treatment settings have emerged throughout the continuum of mental health care, and hospitals have
,responded by creating integrated clinical systems that provide inpatient care, partial hospitalization, day
treatment, residential care, home care, and ambulatory care as part of the parent organization. Psychiatric nurses
provide care in each of these settings as well as in community-based treatment settings such as shelters, schools,
and HMOs.
7. A nurse states, ?I plan ways for patients assigned to me to participate in their own care and to be actively
involved in all of the activities on the unit.? This approach demonstrates the concept of: [Multiple Choice]
a. social accountability.
b. therapeutic community. ✔
c. nurse-patient relationship.
d. multidisciplinary mental health team.
ANS: B
Maxwell Jones published The Therapeutic Community in 1953. It encouraged making use of the patient?s social
environment as a means of providing therapeutic experiences.
8. It is essential that psychiatric nurses become aware of their ability in the area of positive political action. The
nurse can best achieve this goal by: [Multiple Choice]
a. raising donations for a local community health center.
b. becoming involved in an election campaign for a local sheriff.
c. becoming an active volunteer working regularly at a crisis center.
d. working on a city committee to help register local voters. ✔
ANS: D
For a psychiatric nurse to be politically active, helping others to become involved in their local area is a good step
toward political awareness. Raising donations would be health care related rather than political action.
Involvement in specific election campaigns would not have a direct correlation with psychiatric mental health
issues, and being an active volunteer would be beneficial to the community that the crisis center serves but not a
direct political action.
9. During orientation to the inpatient psychiatric unit, new staff members are told, ?Address all patients by their
title and surname unless you are directed by the patient to do otherwise.? The belief that underlies this directive
is that: [Multiple Choice]
a. every person is worthy of respect. ✔
b. every individual has the potential to change.
c. the goals of the individual are growth, health, autonomy, and self-actualization.
, d. the person functions as a holistic being who reacts to the environment as a whole person.
ANS: A
Addressing an individual using his or her title and surname implies dignity and worth and conveys respect.
10. When considering psychiatric nursing roles and functions, in order to delegate effectively the nurse must have
knowledge of the domains of: (Select all that apply.) [Multiple Response]
a. management. ✔
b. communication.
c. direct care. ✔
d. teaching.
e. collaboration.
ANS: A, C
Delegation includes the domains of management and direct care. Collaboration includes management and
communication; teaching includes direct care and communication; and coordination includes direct care,
communication, and management. Teaching and collaboration are not specific to psychiatric nursing delegation.
11. A psychiatric nurse uses leadership skills to strengthen the profession by: [Multiple Choice]
a. working as a change agent advocating for patients, families, and communities. ✔
b. volunteering time each week to outpatient clinics in poor neighborhoods.
c. voting for candidates in local elections who will advocate for nurses.
d. working for state government representatives at local voting sites.
ANS: A
Psychiatric nurse leaders need to be change agents who work not only in the profession but also with other
interdisciplinary colleagues to advance the care of patients with psychiatric disorders.
12. To derive the theoretical framework of psychiatric nursing, knowledge from which sciences is included?
(Select all that apply.) [Multiple Response]
a. Psychosocial ✔
b. Biophysical ✔
c. Personality behavior ✔
d. Human behavior ✔
