Chapter 05: Cultural Issues
Steele: Keltner’s Psychiatric Nursing,
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse begins work at an agency that provides care to members of a minority ethnic population.
What intervention should the nurse implement to demonstrate cultural competence?
a. Identifying popularly held culture-bound issues
b. Implementing scientifically proven interventions
c. Correcting inferior health practices of the population
d. Exploring commonly held beliefs and values of the population
ANS: D
Cultural competence is dependent on understanding the beliefs and values of members of a
different culture. A nurse who works with an individual or group of a culture different from his
or her own must be open to learning about the culture. The other options have little to do
with cultural competence or represent only a portion of the answer.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Implementation
MSC: Client Needs: Safe, Effective Care Environment
2. A nurse cares for a first-generation American whose family emigrated from Germany one
generation ago. This patient would probably have which worldview about the source of
knowledge?
a. Knowledge is acquired through use of affective or feeling senses.
b. Knowledge is acquired according to proof of existence.
c. Knowledge develops by striving for transcendence of the mind and body.
d. Knowledge evolves from an individual‘s relationship with a supreme being.
ANS: B
, The European-American perspective of acquiring knowledge evolves through acquiring proof
that something exists using the personal senses. The distracters describe the beliefs of other
cultural groups.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
3. The nurse administers medications to a culturally diverse group of patients on a psychiatric unit.
What expectation should the nurse when discussing pharmacokinetics with the various patients?
a. Patients of different cultural groups may metabolize medications at different rates.
b. Metabolism of psychotropic medication is consistent among various cultural groups.
c. Differences in hepatic enzymes will influence the rate of elimination of psychotropic
medications.
d. It is important to provide patients with oral and written literature about their psychotropic
medications.
ANS: A
Cytochrome P-450 enzyme systems, which vary among different cultural groups, influence the
rate of metabolism of psychoactive drugs. Renal function influences elimination of psychotropic
medication; hepatic function influences metabolism rates. Information about medication is
important but does not apply to pharmacokinetics.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
4. A nurse prepares to assess a newly hospitalized patient who moved to the United States 6 months
ago from Somalia. What issue should the nurse focus upon initially?
a. If the patient‘s immunizations are current
b. The patient‘s religious preferences
c. The patient‘s specific ethnic group
d. Whether there is a need for an interpreter
, ANS: D
The assessment depends on communication. The nurse should first determine whether or not an
interpreter is needed. The other information can be subsequently assessed when communication
is effective.
DIF: Cognitive level: Analyzing TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
5. A clinic nurse encounters many patients who request acupuncture, nutritional therapies,
moxibustion, cupping, and coining. The nurse understands that these patients are seeking to
restore what personal characteristic?
a. Chi
b. Meridians
c. Equilibrium
d. Divine relationships
ANS: C
Patients who view illness as disequilibrium or lack of balance may seek alternative therapies to
restore balance. Chi is an energy force. Meridians are lines in the body representing body
functions. Divine relationships are an aspect of balance, but equilibrium is a broader concept.
DIF: Cognitive level: Analyzing TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
6. The nurse can expect the parent of a child with mal ojo (evil eye) to believe that the effects of the
spell can be broken after what intervention?
a. Focusing on the parents rather than the child
b. Arranging to feed the child warm foods
c. Looking deeply into the child‘s eyes
d. Consulting by a root doctor or native healer
ANS: D
Steele: Keltner’s Psychiatric Nursing,
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse begins work at an agency that provides care to members of a minority ethnic population.
What intervention should the nurse implement to demonstrate cultural competence?
a. Identifying popularly held culture-bound issues
b. Implementing scientifically proven interventions
c. Correcting inferior health practices of the population
d. Exploring commonly held beliefs and values of the population
ANS: D
Cultural competence is dependent on understanding the beliefs and values of members of a
different culture. A nurse who works with an individual or group of a culture different from his
or her own must be open to learning about the culture. The other options have little to do
with cultural competence or represent only a portion of the answer.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Implementation
MSC: Client Needs: Safe, Effective Care Environment
2. A nurse cares for a first-generation American whose family emigrated from Germany one
generation ago. This patient would probably have which worldview about the source of
knowledge?
a. Knowledge is acquired through use of affective or feeling senses.
b. Knowledge is acquired according to proof of existence.
c. Knowledge develops by striving for transcendence of the mind and body.
d. Knowledge evolves from an individual‘s relationship with a supreme being.
ANS: B
, The European-American perspective of acquiring knowledge evolves through acquiring proof
that something exists using the personal senses. The distracters describe the beliefs of other
cultural groups.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
3. The nurse administers medications to a culturally diverse group of patients on a psychiatric unit.
What expectation should the nurse when discussing pharmacokinetics with the various patients?
a. Patients of different cultural groups may metabolize medications at different rates.
b. Metabolism of psychotropic medication is consistent among various cultural groups.
c. Differences in hepatic enzymes will influence the rate of elimination of psychotropic
medications.
d. It is important to provide patients with oral and written literature about their psychotropic
medications.
ANS: A
Cytochrome P-450 enzyme systems, which vary among different cultural groups, influence the
rate of metabolism of psychoactive drugs. Renal function influences elimination of psychotropic
medication; hepatic function influences metabolism rates. Information about medication is
important but does not apply to pharmacokinetics.
DIF: Cognitive level: Applying TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
4. A nurse prepares to assess a newly hospitalized patient who moved to the United States 6 months
ago from Somalia. What issue should the nurse focus upon initially?
a. If the patient‘s immunizations are current
b. The patient‘s religious preferences
c. The patient‘s specific ethnic group
d. Whether there is a need for an interpreter
, ANS: D
The assessment depends on communication. The nurse should first determine whether or not an
interpreter is needed. The other information can be subsequently assessed when communication
is effective.
DIF: Cognitive level: Analyzing TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
5. A clinic nurse encounters many patients who request acupuncture, nutritional therapies,
moxibustion, cupping, and coining. The nurse understands that these patients are seeking to
restore what personal characteristic?
a. Chi
b. Meridians
c. Equilibrium
d. Divine relationships
ANS: C
Patients who view illness as disequilibrium or lack of balance may seek alternative therapies to
restore balance. Chi is an energy force. Meridians are lines in the body representing body
functions. Divine relationships are an aspect of balance, but equilibrium is a broader concept.
DIF: Cognitive level: Analyzing TOP: Nursing process: Assessment
MSC: Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
6. The nurse can expect the parent of a child with mal ojo (evil eye) to believe that the effects of the
spell can be broken after what intervention?
a. Focusing on the parents rather than the child
b. Arranging to feed the child warm foods
c. Looking deeply into the child‘s eyes
d. Consulting by a root doctor or native healer
ANS: D
