Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
Page 1
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
CHAPTER LIST
Chapter 1: Family Assessment and Intervention: An Overview
Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations of the Calgary Family
Assessment and Intervention Models
Chapter 3: The Calgary Family Assessment Model
Chapter 4: The Calgary Family Intervention Model
Chapter 5: Family Nursing Interviews: Stages and Skills
Chapter 6: How To Prepare for Family Interviews
Chapter 7: How To Conduct Family Interviews
Chapter 8: How To Use Questions in Family Interviewing
Chapter 9: How To Do a 15-Minute (or Shorter) Family Interview
Chapter 10: How To Move Beyond Basic Family Nursing Skills
Chapter 11: How To Avoid the Three Most Common Errors in
Family Nursing
Chapter 12: How To Terminate With Families
Chapter 13: Pulling It All Together
Page 2
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
Chapter 1: Family Assessment and
Intervention: An Overview
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse includes a patient's family in the initial health interview.
What is the PRIMARY rationale for this approach in family nursing?
A. Family members can consent to treatment on behalf of the
patient.
B. Illness affects the entire family unit, making family
involvement essential to comprehensive care.
C. Regulatory guidelines require family presence during all
assessments.
D. Family members usually have the most accurate medical
history.
ANS: B
Rationale: Family nursing is grounded in the principle that illness
affects every member of the family system. Including the family
reflects the reciprocal relationship among health, illness, and family
functioning described in Chapter 1.
2. Which of the following best describes the concept of reciprocity
as used in family systems nursing?
A. The equal distribution of caregiving tasks among family
members
B. The mutual, interacting influence among health, illness, and
family
C. The exchange of emotional support between nurse and patient
D. The agreement between a patient and provider regarding care
goals
ANS: B
Rationale: Reciprocity in family systems nursing refers to the
dynamic, bidirectional interaction between the family and
health/illness. Neither the family nor illness can be fully
understood in isolation from the other.
Page 3
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
3. A nurse with a BSN is working with a patient who has chronic
heart failure. According to Wright and Leahey, at which nursing
practice level is this nurse functioning?
A. Specialist level
B. Advanced practice level
C. Generalist level
D. Expert level
ANS: C
Rationale: Nurses prepared at the BSN level are considered
generalists. They are expected to conduct basic family assessments
and recognize the family as context. Specialist practice requires
graduate-level preparation and involves more complex family
interventions.
4. Which of the following represents the family treated primarily as
CONTEXT rather than as CLIENT?
A. A nurse assessing how family dynamics contribute to a child's
poor adherence to a diabetic diet
B. A nurse interviewing family members to understand caregiving
burdens following a stroke
C. A nurse noting that the patient has 'supportive family at
home' in the assessment
D. A nurse facilitating a family meeting to restructure household
roles after a cancer diagnosis
ANS: C
Rationale: When the family is treated as context, the individual
patient remains the focus of care and the family is noted only as
background information. Deeper engagement with family dynamics
reflects the family-as-client approach.
5. The Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) is best described
as which type of framework?
A. A linear, cause-and-effect assessment tool
B. A multidimensional, integrated framework for assessing family
structure, development, and function
C. A psychiatric screening tool for dysfunctional families
D. A single-domain checklist for family health history
Page 4
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
ANS: B
Rationale: CFAM is a multidimensional framework with three
major assessment categories: structural, developmental, and
functional. It is rooted in systems theory and other theoretical
foundations covered in Chapter 2.
6. A nurse specialist is working with a family in which several
members are experiencing grief after the death of a parent. This
nurse is functioning at which practice level?
A. Generalist
B. Technical
C. Specialist
D. Novice
ANS: C
Rationale: Specialist-level nurses have graduate preparation and
engage in complex family interventions such as addressing grief,
relational conflict, and systemic dysfunction. They view the family
as the primary unit of care.
7. Which of the following is an INDICATION for conducting a
comprehensive family assessment?
A. A routine pre-operative screening for an otherwise healthy
adult
B. A family that refuses any nursing involvement
C. A child newly diagnosed with a chronic illness such as Type 1
diabetes
D. An adult patient with no identified family support
ANS: C
Rationale: A new diagnosis of chronic illness in any family member
is a clear indication for family assessment because it affects the
entire family system's functioning, roles, and coping capacity.
8. Which of the following would be considered a
CONTRAINDICATION for a full family assessment?
A. The patient is reluctant to discuss family relationships at this
time.
B. The family includes members from different cultural
backgrounds.
Page 5
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
C. The patient has been recently hospitalized.
D. The family is geographically dispersed.
ANS: A
Rationale: Patient and family reluctance or resistance is a key
contraindication for a full family assessment. Forcing assessment
when the family is not ready may damage the therapeutic
relationship and is unlikely to yield useful information.
9. The Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM) organizes nursing
interventions across which three domains?
A. Physiological, psychological, and social
B. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral
C. Individual, family, and community
D. Acute, chronic, and palliative
ANS: B
Rationale: CFIM organizes interventions into three domains:
cognitive (beliefs and perceptions), affective (emotions), and
behavioral (actions and interactions). This framework guides nurses
in targeting the most appropriate domain for change.
10. Which nursing intervention involves providing the family with
new or different information to alter their understanding of an
illness?
A. A behavioral intervention
B. An affective intervention
C. A cognitive intervention
D. A structural intervention
ANS: C
Rationale: Cognitive interventions target the family's beliefs,
perceptions, and understanding. Offering new information or
reframing an illness experience is a cognitive strategy aimed at
changing how the family thinks about their situation.
11. Which statement best describes a 'family as client' approach?
A. The nurse focuses on the individual patient and notes family
as background context.
B. The nurse assesses and intervenes with the family unit as the
primary recipient of care.
Page 6
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
C. The nurse refers all family concerns to a social worker.
D. The nurse collects only demographic information about the
family.
ANS: B
Rationale: In the family-as-client approach, the family unit itself is
the focus of assessment and intervention. This requires a broader
engagement with family dynamics, roles, communication patterns,
and collective functioning.
12. A nurse is preparing for an initial family interview with a family
whose teenage son was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. Which
preparation step is MOST important before the interview?
A. Reviewing the hospital's medication formulary
B. Hypothesizing about potential family dynamics and concerns
C. Preparing a written list of instructions for the family
D. Scheduling a referral to a psychiatrist
ANS: B
Rationale: Pre-interview hypothesizing allows the nurse to
anticipate family concerns, communication patterns, and potential
areas of strength or difficulty. This mental preparation enhances
the quality of the interview and guides question formulation.
13. The term 'family systems nursing' most accurately reflects
which philosophical stance?
A. The nurse is the expert who directs the family toward better
health behaviors.
B. The family and nurse are co-participants in a relational,
interactional process of health care.
C. Family problems must be resolved before individual health can
improve.
D. Nursing care is most effective when delivered to individuals in
isolation.
ANS: B
Rationale: Family systems nursing is relational and interactional;
both the nurse and family contribute expertise. The nurse brings
clinical knowledge while the family brings knowledge of their own
context, values, and experience.
Page 7
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
14. Which of the following would be a behavioral-domain nursing
intervention?
A. Providing written educational materials about medication side
effects
B. Encouraging family members to express their emotions about
a terminal diagnosis
C. Teaching a caregiver to demonstrate proper wound care
technique
D. Reframing a family's understanding of a chronic illness as
manageable
ANS: C
Rationale: Behavioral interventions target observable actions and
skill performance. Teaching and demonstrating caregiving
techniques directly addresses the behavioral domain of family
functioning.
15. According to Wright and Leahey, which professional discipline's
contribution most directly shaped the evolution of nursing practice
with families?
A. Family therapy
B. Radiology
C. Pharmacology
D. Medical sociology
ANS: A
Rationale: Family therapy has been a major influencing discipline
for the development of family nursing. Concepts such as circular
causality, systemic thinking, and therapeutic conversation were
adapted from family therapy for nursing practice.
TRUE/FALSE
16. Family systems nursing views the family and individual as
separate entities that must be assessed independently.
ANS: False
Rationale: Family systems nursing emphasizes the interrelatedness
of the individual and the family. The health and illness of one
member affects all others; therefore, individual and family
assessments are integrated, not conducted in isolation.
Page 8
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
17. A generalist nurse is expected to be able to conduct basic family
assessments and recognize the impact of illness on the family.
ANS: True
Rationale: According to Wright and Leahey, generalist nurses
(BSN-prepared) should have foundational skills in family
assessment, including the ability to recognize family strengths and
the reciprocal effects of illness and family functioning.
18. The CFAM and CFIM are prescriptive models that dictate
exactly what interventions must be used with every family.
ANS: False
Rationale: CFAM and CFIM are organizing frameworks, not
prescriptive protocols. They provide structure for assessment and
intervention but require clinical judgment to adapt to individual
family contexts and needs.
19. Family nursing recognizes that when one family member
becomes ill, the entire family unit is affected.
ANS: True
Rationale: This is a foundational premise of family nursing. Illness
disrupts roles, communication, emotional balance, and daily
functioning for all family members, reinforcing the need for family-
centered approaches.
20. Giving premature or excessive advice is listed as a
contraindication for family intervention in Wright and Leahey.
ANS: True
Rationale: Premature advice-giving is identified as one of the most
common errors in family nursing. It can undermine the family's
sense of competence and may be irrelevant if assessment is
incomplete.
21. Specialist-level nurses are expected to manage complex family
situations involving grief, trauma, and chronic illness.
ANS: True
Rationale: Specialist-level nurses have advanced preparation and
competencies to work with families experiencing complex
psychosocial and health challenges, including grief, relational
conflict, and long-term illness management.
Page 9
Page 1
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
CHAPTER LIST
Chapter 1: Family Assessment and Intervention: An Overview
Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations of the Calgary Family
Assessment and Intervention Models
Chapter 3: The Calgary Family Assessment Model
Chapter 4: The Calgary Family Intervention Model
Chapter 5: Family Nursing Interviews: Stages and Skills
Chapter 6: How To Prepare for Family Interviews
Chapter 7: How To Conduct Family Interviews
Chapter 8: How To Use Questions in Family Interviewing
Chapter 9: How To Do a 15-Minute (or Shorter) Family Interview
Chapter 10: How To Move Beyond Basic Family Nursing Skills
Chapter 11: How To Avoid the Three Most Common Errors in
Family Nursing
Chapter 12: How To Terminate With Families
Chapter 13: Pulling It All Together
Page 2
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
Chapter 1: Family Assessment and
Intervention: An Overview
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse includes a patient's family in the initial health interview.
What is the PRIMARY rationale for this approach in family nursing?
A. Family members can consent to treatment on behalf of the
patient.
B. Illness affects the entire family unit, making family
involvement essential to comprehensive care.
C. Regulatory guidelines require family presence during all
assessments.
D. Family members usually have the most accurate medical
history.
ANS: B
Rationale: Family nursing is grounded in the principle that illness
affects every member of the family system. Including the family
reflects the reciprocal relationship among health, illness, and family
functioning described in Chapter 1.
2. Which of the following best describes the concept of reciprocity
as used in family systems nursing?
A. The equal distribution of caregiving tasks among family
members
B. The mutual, interacting influence among health, illness, and
family
C. The exchange of emotional support between nurse and patient
D. The agreement between a patient and provider regarding care
goals
ANS: B
Rationale: Reciprocity in family systems nursing refers to the
dynamic, bidirectional interaction between the family and
health/illness. Neither the family nor illness can be fully
understood in isolation from the other.
Page 3
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
3. A nurse with a BSN is working with a patient who has chronic
heart failure. According to Wright and Leahey, at which nursing
practice level is this nurse functioning?
A. Specialist level
B. Advanced practice level
C. Generalist level
D. Expert level
ANS: C
Rationale: Nurses prepared at the BSN level are considered
generalists. They are expected to conduct basic family assessments
and recognize the family as context. Specialist practice requires
graduate-level preparation and involves more complex family
interventions.
4. Which of the following represents the family treated primarily as
CONTEXT rather than as CLIENT?
A. A nurse assessing how family dynamics contribute to a child's
poor adherence to a diabetic diet
B. A nurse interviewing family members to understand caregiving
burdens following a stroke
C. A nurse noting that the patient has 'supportive family at
home' in the assessment
D. A nurse facilitating a family meeting to restructure household
roles after a cancer diagnosis
ANS: C
Rationale: When the family is treated as context, the individual
patient remains the focus of care and the family is noted only as
background information. Deeper engagement with family dynamics
reflects the family-as-client approach.
5. The Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) is best described
as which type of framework?
A. A linear, cause-and-effect assessment tool
B. A multidimensional, integrated framework for assessing family
structure, development, and function
C. A psychiatric screening tool for dysfunctional families
D. A single-domain checklist for family health history
Page 4
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
ANS: B
Rationale: CFAM is a multidimensional framework with three
major assessment categories: structural, developmental, and
functional. It is rooted in systems theory and other theoretical
foundations covered in Chapter 2.
6. A nurse specialist is working with a family in which several
members are experiencing grief after the death of a parent. This
nurse is functioning at which practice level?
A. Generalist
B. Technical
C. Specialist
D. Novice
ANS: C
Rationale: Specialist-level nurses have graduate preparation and
engage in complex family interventions such as addressing grief,
relational conflict, and systemic dysfunction. They view the family
as the primary unit of care.
7. Which of the following is an INDICATION for conducting a
comprehensive family assessment?
A. A routine pre-operative screening for an otherwise healthy
adult
B. A family that refuses any nursing involvement
C. A child newly diagnosed with a chronic illness such as Type 1
diabetes
D. An adult patient with no identified family support
ANS: C
Rationale: A new diagnosis of chronic illness in any family member
is a clear indication for family assessment because it affects the
entire family system's functioning, roles, and coping capacity.
8. Which of the following would be considered a
CONTRAINDICATION for a full family assessment?
A. The patient is reluctant to discuss family relationships at this
time.
B. The family includes members from different cultural
backgrounds.
Page 5
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
C. The patient has been recently hospitalized.
D. The family is geographically dispersed.
ANS: A
Rationale: Patient and family reluctance or resistance is a key
contraindication for a full family assessment. Forcing assessment
when the family is not ready may damage the therapeutic
relationship and is unlikely to yield useful information.
9. The Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM) organizes nursing
interventions across which three domains?
A. Physiological, psychological, and social
B. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral
C. Individual, family, and community
D. Acute, chronic, and palliative
ANS: B
Rationale: CFIM organizes interventions into three domains:
cognitive (beliefs and perceptions), affective (emotions), and
behavioral (actions and interactions). This framework guides nurses
in targeting the most appropriate domain for change.
10. Which nursing intervention involves providing the family with
new or different information to alter their understanding of an
illness?
A. A behavioral intervention
B. An affective intervention
C. A cognitive intervention
D. A structural intervention
ANS: C
Rationale: Cognitive interventions target the family's beliefs,
perceptions, and understanding. Offering new information or
reframing an illness experience is a cognitive strategy aimed at
changing how the family thinks about their situation.
11. Which statement best describes a 'family as client' approach?
A. The nurse focuses on the individual patient and notes family
as background context.
B. The nurse assesses and intervenes with the family unit as the
primary recipient of care.
Page 6
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
C. The nurse refers all family concerns to a social worker.
D. The nurse collects only demographic information about the
family.
ANS: B
Rationale: In the family-as-client approach, the family unit itself is
the focus of assessment and intervention. This requires a broader
engagement with family dynamics, roles, communication patterns,
and collective functioning.
12. A nurse is preparing for an initial family interview with a family
whose teenage son was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. Which
preparation step is MOST important before the interview?
A. Reviewing the hospital's medication formulary
B. Hypothesizing about potential family dynamics and concerns
C. Preparing a written list of instructions for the family
D. Scheduling a referral to a psychiatrist
ANS: B
Rationale: Pre-interview hypothesizing allows the nurse to
anticipate family concerns, communication patterns, and potential
areas of strength or difficulty. This mental preparation enhances
the quality of the interview and guides question formulation.
13. The term 'family systems nursing' most accurately reflects
which philosophical stance?
A. The nurse is the expert who directs the family toward better
health behaviors.
B. The family and nurse are co-participants in a relational,
interactional process of health care.
C. Family problems must be resolved before individual health can
improve.
D. Nursing care is most effective when delivered to individuals in
isolation.
ANS: B
Rationale: Family systems nursing is relational and interactional;
both the nurse and family contribute expertise. The nurse brings
clinical knowledge while the family brings knowledge of their own
context, values, and experience.
Page 7
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
14. Which of the following would be a behavioral-domain nursing
intervention?
A. Providing written educational materials about medication side
effects
B. Encouraging family members to express their emotions about
a terminal diagnosis
C. Teaching a caregiver to demonstrate proper wound care
technique
D. Reframing a family's understanding of a chronic illness as
manageable
ANS: C
Rationale: Behavioral interventions target observable actions and
skill performance. Teaching and demonstrating caregiving
techniques directly addresses the behavioral domain of family
functioning.
15. According to Wright and Leahey, which professional discipline's
contribution most directly shaped the evolution of nursing practice
with families?
A. Family therapy
B. Radiology
C. Pharmacology
D. Medical sociology
ANS: A
Rationale: Family therapy has been a major influencing discipline
for the development of family nursing. Concepts such as circular
causality, systemic thinking, and therapeutic conversation were
adapted from family therapy for nursing practice.
TRUE/FALSE
16. Family systems nursing views the family and individual as
separate entities that must be assessed independently.
ANS: False
Rationale: Family systems nursing emphasizes the interrelatedness
of the individual and the family. The health and illness of one
member affects all others; therefore, individual and family
assessments are integrated, not conducted in isolation.
Page 8
, Test Bank — Wright & Leahey's Nurses and Families, 8e | Chapter 1–13
17. A generalist nurse is expected to be able to conduct basic family
assessments and recognize the impact of illness on the family.
ANS: True
Rationale: According to Wright and Leahey, generalist nurses
(BSN-prepared) should have foundational skills in family
assessment, including the ability to recognize family strengths and
the reciprocal effects of illness and family functioning.
18. The CFAM and CFIM are prescriptive models that dictate
exactly what interventions must be used with every family.
ANS: False
Rationale: CFAM and CFIM are organizing frameworks, not
prescriptive protocols. They provide structure for assessment and
intervention but require clinical judgment to adapt to individual
family contexts and needs.
19. Family nursing recognizes that when one family member
becomes ill, the entire family unit is affected.
ANS: True
Rationale: This is a foundational premise of family nursing. Illness
disrupts roles, communication, emotional balance, and daily
functioning for all family members, reinforcing the need for family-
centered approaches.
20. Giving premature or excessive advice is listed as a
contraindication for family intervention in Wright and Leahey.
ANS: True
Rationale: Premature advice-giving is identified as one of the most
common errors in family nursing. It can undermine the family's
sense of competence and may be irrelevant if assessment is
incomplete.
21. Specialist-level nurses are expected to manage complex family
situations involving grief, trauma, and chronic illness.
ANS: True
Rationale: Specialist-level nurses have advanced preparation and
competencies to work with families experiencing complex
psychosocial and health challenges, including grief, relational
conflict, and long-term illness management.
Page 9
