FIRST PUBLISH OCTOBER 2024
Gerontology Nursing Certification Exam
Study Guide with Complete Solutions
Graying of America - Ans:✔✔-the growing percentage of older people in the U.S. population
Ageism - Ans:✔✔-prejudice and discrimination against older people
Biological Theories - Ans:✔✔-the reason people age and die is bc of changes in the human body
Stochastic theories - Ans:✔✔-Based on random events that cause cellular damage that accumulates as
the organism ages
Nonstochastic theories - Ans:✔✔-explain biological aging as resulting from a complex, predetermined
process
Psychological theories - Ans:✔✔-support the idea that an older adult's life ends when he or she has
reached all of his or her developmental milestones (EX: Maslow's, Jung's, Erikson's)
Moral/spiritual theories - Ans:✔✔-support the idea that once an older individual finds spiritual
wholeness, this transcends the need to inhabit a body, and he or she dies (EX: Tornstan's theory,
Kohlberg's theory)
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FIRST PUBLISH OCTOBER 2024
Social theories - Ans:✔✔-explain that when an older adult's usefulness in roles and relationships end,
death occurs
EX:
-Disengagement theory
-Activity theory
-Continuity theory
-Subculture theory
-Age Stratification theory
Family theory - Ans:✔✔-provides a framework for understanding human behavior and improving
relationships in order to assist individuals, families, etc
families need good communication to help older adults transition smoothly & decrease risk of
depression
Motivational theory - Ans:✔✔-support the idea that it is critical to determine one's motivational factor in
order to change behavior
EX: Herzberg's hygienic needs theory, McGregor's X-Y theory, Adam's equity theory, McClelland's
motivational theory
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