Community Health NR442 exam 1 Questions with Verified
Answers (Correct Update)
Question 1: Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between the
environment and health?
a. Because of the large number of variables involved, the relationship between environment and
health cannot be researched.
b. Because the environment has such long-term effects on health, research findings are not yet
available.
c. Research shows that a healthy environment has limited impact on one's health.
d. Research shows that a healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living.
Answer: ANS: D A healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living.
Accumulated evidence shows that the environmental changes of the past few decades have profoundly
influenced the status of public health. Globally, environmental factors contribute to nearly 25% of all
deaths and increase disease burden (World Health Organization, 2006). The safety, beauty, and
life-sustaining capacity of the physical environment are unquestionably of global consequence. DIF:
Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Question 2: When using an environmental perspective, which of the following would be the most
important question for a nurse to ask when assessing potential health problems?
a. "Can you tell me how you have been feeling?"
b. "Can you tell me what you do at work?"
c. "What brings you here today?"
d. "What problems have you been having?"
Answer: ANS: B Because 25% of worldwide preventable illnesses are caused by poor environmental
quality, nurses need to ask critical questions about their clients' work and home environments to help
discern the contributions of specific hazards to their health. This can be accomplished by an
environmental health history. The other responses do not address a question that would be addressed
during an environmental health history. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p.
250
Question 3: How does critical theory differ from other nursing theories such as the health belief
model or Orem's selfcare deficit theory?
a. Critical theory can be used by professionals other than nurses.
b. Critical theory focuses on oppression and facilitates group action.
c. Critical theory is not directly related to health promotion.
d. Critical theory confronts changing an individual's beliefs.
Answer: ANS: B Critical theory is an approach that raises questions about oppressive situations,
involves community members in the definition and solution of problems, and facilitates group
interventions. The other two theories focus more on individual beliefs and choice of action. DIF:
Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Page 1
,Question 4: Which of the following statements best describe why environmental health is more
challenging than other variables related to an individual's health?
a. Environmental health affects susceptible individuals more than groups.
b. Environmental health demands that individuals be willing to change their beliefs.
c. Environmental health is dependent on social neighborhoods, as well as geography.
d. Environmental health requires social, economic, and political changes to improve.
Answer: ANS: D Intervening to improve environmental conditions requires basic social, economic, and
political changes. Aggregates must work together to create such change. The other responses do not
address the multiple dimensions that must be impacted in order to impact change within environmental
health. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Question 5: Which of the following nursing actions would be the most helpful to the community's
long-term health?
a. Careful assessment, diagnosis, planning, and giving care to individual patients and their
families
b. Dialogue with community members concerning what health issues are of importance in that
community
c. Focusing on family health through school-based neighborhood clinics
d. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative
lobbying, and mass demonstrations
Answer: ANS: D The ultimate goal is liberating people from healthdamaging environmental conditions
by using collective actions. Mechanisms have included strategic organization, litigation, public hearing
testimony, letter-writing campaigns, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations. Helping the
community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and mass
demonstrations shows how collective action can be applied. The other interventions do not demonstrate
the use of collective action. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 251
Question 6: Which of the following best explains why it is difficult to get others interested in
environmental health?
a. Environmental problems just are not interesting or dramatic.
b. It's difficult to get media interested.
c. People respond more to an acute crisis than chronic environmental problems.
d. People respond more to an individual asking for help than a community asking for help.
Answer: ANS: C People respond to acute crises with dramatic media coverage (such as hurricanes or
earthquakes), but ongoing consistent pressure is needed to ensure day-to-day environmental integrity.
Chronic environmental problems are rarely addressed effectively. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand
(Comprehension) REF: pp. 251-252
Page 2
, Question 7: What would be an appropriate term for intoxicated drivers, secondhand smoke,
urban crowding, noise, and mechanization?
a. Risks of living style
b. Risks in the built environment
c. Personal health risks
d. Modern day health risks
Answer: ANS: B The built environment is the connection between people, communities, and their
surrounding environments that affect health habits and behaviors, interpersonal relationships, cultural
values, and customs. Most people live within areas that require almost daily contact with potential health
risks and threats, such as intoxicated or impaired drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding, noise
exposure, unabated traffic, and the stress of increased mechanization. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand
(Comprehension) REF: p. 253
Question 8: What is meant by discriminatory land use?
a. Backlash against companies that do not protect the environment
b. Daily insults to people who live in a particular community
c. Locating industrial hazards in lowincome communities
d. Political recognition that companies support a safe environment
Answer: ANS: C Discriminatory land use ensures that many impoverished and marginalized groups,
especially people of color, live in close proximity to industrial contamination. Members of these
communities are at risk for illness and injury. The other responses do not correctly define discriminatory
land use. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
Question 9: It has been learned that a particular industry has vastly polluted the surrounding
neighborhood. Which of the following actions would most likely be taken by those living in the
neighborhood?
a. Band together to shut the industry down
b. Nothing, because of family ties and cost of relocation
c. Immediately move to a different neighborhood
d. Seek legal reimbursement for the hazard exposure
Answer: ANS: B Residents may be unwilling to disrupt family ties and cultural roots to start over
elsewhere, or they may be unable to afford to move. Residents are revictimized by the difficulty in
obtaining compensation. Attempting to shut the industry down, seeking reimbursement for the hazard
exposure, and immediately moving to a different neighborhood are all costly interventions and in most
cases cannot be easily accomplished by most residents. DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply (Application) REF:
p. 254
Page 3
Answers (Correct Update)
Question 1: Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between the
environment and health?
a. Because of the large number of variables involved, the relationship between environment and
health cannot be researched.
b. Because the environment has such long-term effects on health, research findings are not yet
available.
c. Research shows that a healthy environment has limited impact on one's health.
d. Research shows that a healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living.
Answer: ANS: D A healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living.
Accumulated evidence shows that the environmental changes of the past few decades have profoundly
influenced the status of public health. Globally, environmental factors contribute to nearly 25% of all
deaths and increase disease burden (World Health Organization, 2006). The safety, beauty, and
life-sustaining capacity of the physical environment are unquestionably of global consequence. DIF:
Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Question 2: When using an environmental perspective, which of the following would be the most
important question for a nurse to ask when assessing potential health problems?
a. "Can you tell me how you have been feeling?"
b. "Can you tell me what you do at work?"
c. "What brings you here today?"
d. "What problems have you been having?"
Answer: ANS: B Because 25% of worldwide preventable illnesses are caused by poor environmental
quality, nurses need to ask critical questions about their clients' work and home environments to help
discern the contributions of specific hazards to their health. This can be accomplished by an
environmental health history. The other responses do not address a question that would be addressed
during an environmental health history. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p.
250
Question 3: How does critical theory differ from other nursing theories such as the health belief
model or Orem's selfcare deficit theory?
a. Critical theory can be used by professionals other than nurses.
b. Critical theory focuses on oppression and facilitates group action.
c. Critical theory is not directly related to health promotion.
d. Critical theory confronts changing an individual's beliefs.
Answer: ANS: B Critical theory is an approach that raises questions about oppressive situations,
involves community members in the definition and solution of problems, and facilitates group
interventions. The other two theories focus more on individual beliefs and choice of action. DIF:
Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Page 1
,Question 4: Which of the following statements best describe why environmental health is more
challenging than other variables related to an individual's health?
a. Environmental health affects susceptible individuals more than groups.
b. Environmental health demands that individuals be willing to change their beliefs.
c. Environmental health is dependent on social neighborhoods, as well as geography.
d. Environmental health requires social, economic, and political changes to improve.
Answer: ANS: D Intervening to improve environmental conditions requires basic social, economic, and
political changes. Aggregates must work together to create such change. The other responses do not
address the multiple dimensions that must be impacted in order to impact change within environmental
health. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Question 5: Which of the following nursing actions would be the most helpful to the community's
long-term health?
a. Careful assessment, diagnosis, planning, and giving care to individual patients and their
families
b. Dialogue with community members concerning what health issues are of importance in that
community
c. Focusing on family health through school-based neighborhood clinics
d. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative
lobbying, and mass demonstrations
Answer: ANS: D The ultimate goal is liberating people from healthdamaging environmental conditions
by using collective actions. Mechanisms have included strategic organization, litigation, public hearing
testimony, letter-writing campaigns, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations. Helping the
community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and mass
demonstrations shows how collective action can be applied. The other interventions do not demonstrate
the use of collective action. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 251
Question 6: Which of the following best explains why it is difficult to get others interested in
environmental health?
a. Environmental problems just are not interesting or dramatic.
b. It's difficult to get media interested.
c. People respond more to an acute crisis than chronic environmental problems.
d. People respond more to an individual asking for help than a community asking for help.
Answer: ANS: C People respond to acute crises with dramatic media coverage (such as hurricanes or
earthquakes), but ongoing consistent pressure is needed to ensure day-to-day environmental integrity.
Chronic environmental problems are rarely addressed effectively. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand
(Comprehension) REF: pp. 251-252
Page 2
, Question 7: What would be an appropriate term for intoxicated drivers, secondhand smoke,
urban crowding, noise, and mechanization?
a. Risks of living style
b. Risks in the built environment
c. Personal health risks
d. Modern day health risks
Answer: ANS: B The built environment is the connection between people, communities, and their
surrounding environments that affect health habits and behaviors, interpersonal relationships, cultural
values, and customs. Most people live within areas that require almost daily contact with potential health
risks and threats, such as intoxicated or impaired drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding, noise
exposure, unabated traffic, and the stress of increased mechanization. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand
(Comprehension) REF: p. 253
Question 8: What is meant by discriminatory land use?
a. Backlash against companies that do not protect the environment
b. Daily insults to people who live in a particular community
c. Locating industrial hazards in lowincome communities
d. Political recognition that companies support a safe environment
Answer: ANS: C Discriminatory land use ensures that many impoverished and marginalized groups,
especially people of color, live in close proximity to industrial contamination. Members of these
communities are at risk for illness and injury. The other responses do not correctly define discriminatory
land use. DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
Question 9: It has been learned that a particular industry has vastly polluted the surrounding
neighborhood. Which of the following actions would most likely be taken by those living in the
neighborhood?
a. Band together to shut the industry down
b. Nothing, because of family ties and cost of relocation
c. Immediately move to a different neighborhood
d. Seek legal reimbursement for the hazard exposure
Answer: ANS: B Residents may be unwilling to disrupt family ties and cultural roots to start over
elsewhere, or they may be unable to afford to move. Residents are revictimized by the difficulty in
obtaining compensation. Attempting to shut the industry down, seeking reimbursement for the hazard
exposure, and immediately moving to a different neighborhood are all costly interventions and in most
cases cannot be easily accomplished by most residents. DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply (Application) REF:
p. 254
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