Chapter 11: Working with the Individual as Client: Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan Flashcards
- Which areas should be targeted by the community health nurse (CHN) who wishes to
successfully establish a program to decrease childhood mortality rates?
a. Accidents and injuries
b. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
c. Childhood obesity
d. Vaccine-preventable diseases
ANS: A
Injuries and accidents are the most common causes of preventable disease, disability, and
death among children. Most accidents occur in the home; therefore, measures to promote
home safety are important. In Canada, injuries and accidents in children aged 1 to 14 are the
leading causes of death. Obesity, although a significant problem, is not a common cause of
death in children.
- What is the most important action to be taken by the CHN who wishes to decrease childhood
obesity?
a. Lobbying legislators to enact stronger legislation regarding unhealthy lunches and
food from snack machines in schools
b. Increasing availability of nutrition programs in which schoolchildren are taught to
make healthy food choices
c. Involving the entire family in the management of obesity in a child
d. Providing after-school activities and summer camps that focus on diet and exercise
ANS: C
Interventions need to be based on lifestyle changes for the entire family. The goal is to modify
the entire family’s eating patterns, exercise levels, and daily activities. Teaching a child about
nutrition, exercise, and a proper diet becomes ineffective if the family’s meals do not also
include proper food choices.
- What constitutes tertiary prevention by a CHN who wants to promote improved health in
obese children?
a. Establishing lifestyle improvement programs through local youth organizations
b. Evaluating the food intake of a group of children for a 48-hour period
c. Providing educational programs to overweight prospective parents because they
are at greater risk of having overweight children
d. Measuring body mass index in children during regularly scheduled well-child
assessments
ANS: A
Tertiary prevention includes activities that are aimed at reducing the complications of the
disease process. Examples of tertiary prevention for women with diabetes include intense
monitoring of blood glucose levels, modification of diet and medications as indicated, and
efforts to prevent long-term complications. Establishing lifestyle improvement programs is
directed toward preventing problems in children who are already obese. Evaluating food
intake and measuring body mass index are types of screening programs (secondary
prevention). Providing educational programs to overweight prospective parents pertains to a
future event—the child is not yet born.
- Which statement provides the best definition of women’s health?
a. Women’s health is health care taken in fostering gynecological and reproductive
wellness.
b. Women’s health is health care that assists the transition from girlhood to
womanhood and through menopause.
c. Women’s health includes health promotion, health protection, and health
maintenance across a woman’s lifespan.
d. Women’s health is the management and treatment of conditions unique to the
female sex.
ANS: C
Women’s health is related to the entire lifespan of women and involves health promotion,
health protection, disease prevention, and health maintenance in adult women. This broad
emphasis on women’s health contrasts with the view of women’s health solely in terms of
their reproductive health or their role as mothers.
- What constitutes secondary prevention by a CHN who wants to promote improved health in
obese women?
a. Educating women about the risks of obesity
b. Preventing long-term complications of preexisting hypertension
c. Modification of women’s diet and medications, as indicated
d. Screening using a full glucose tolerance test
ANS: D
Secondary prevention includes screening activities. Screening for diabetes is an example of
secondary prevention. Preventing long-term complications of preexisting hypertension and
modification of diet and medications are actions aimed at reducing complications of a disease
process (tertiary prevention). Educating women about the risks of obesity falls under primary
prevention and includes interventions aimed at educating women about diabetes, nutrition,
and the risks of obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity
- What is the primary determining factor of poor health outcomes in women?
a. Feelings of powerlessness
b. Lack of knowledge
c. Poverty
d. Stress
ANS: C
In most parts of the world, women live longer than men but are generally less healthy. This
difference in health status is related to poverty
- What is the nursing specialty that focuses on holistic care of older adult clients?
a. Older adult care
b. Geriatrics
c. Geripsychiatric nursing
d. Gerontological nursing
ANS: D
Gerontological nursing is the specialty of nursing concerned with assessment of the health
and functional status of older adults, planning and implementing health care and services to
meet the identified needs, and evaluating the effectiveness of such care.
- What would be the best CHN referral for a physically and mentally challenged older adult
who wants to continue living with her family but whose family members are all working
outside the home?
a. Adult daycare services
b. Home health care
c. Long-term care
d. Older adult centres
ANS: A
Adult daycare services are intended for individuals whose mental or physical functioning
requires additional health care and supervision. Long-term care would take the client outside
of the home. Home health care would leave the client alone for periods of unsupervised time
during which the client could encounter problems and not be able to access any services.
- According to the Comprehensive School Health Framework of health promotion, what is the
correct definition of primordial prevention?
a. Interventions aimed at educating children about health risks
b. Preventing risk factors of health issues from ever occurring
c. Screening activities aimed at improving student health
d. Activities aimed at reducing the health complications associated with disease
ANS: B
Primordial prevention is preventing the risk factors for health issues from ever occurring. The
other answer options are definitions of primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention.
- Which type of prevention is exemplified by the administration of vaccines to promote child
and adolescent health?
a. Primary prevention
b. Secondary prevention
c. Tertiary prevention
d. Both primary and secondary prevention
ANS: A
Primary prevention activities are those activities undertaken to prevent a disease or condition
from occurring.
- What would constitute tertiary prevention by a CHN who wants to promote better health in
women with diabetes?
a. Establishing lifestyle improvement programs for women at risk of developing
diabetes
b. Including presentations on lifestyle management at women’s conferences
c. Monitoring blood glucose levels closely and recommending necessary diet
modifications
d. Screening glucose levels in women at risk for developing diabetes
ANS: C
Tertiary prevention includes activities that are aimed at reducing the complications of the
disease process. Examples of tertiary prevention for women with diabetes include intense
monitoring of blood glucose levels, modification of diet and medications as indicated, and
efforts to prevent long-term complications of diabetes.
- Which preventative measure would be included as primary prevention of osteoporosis in
women?
a. A diet rich in calcium and vitamin D
b. Exposure to sunlight for 40 minutes a day, recommended as an alternative source
of vitamin D
c. Exercise, especially non–weight-bearing activity
d. Weight control
ANS: A
For the primary prevention of osteoporosis in women, the following preventive measures need
to be included: eating foods high in calcium, taking vitamin D, and being physically active
with weight-bearing exercises such as walking and involvement in sports, plus avoidance of
smoking and excessive intake of caffeine and alcohol.
- The second leading cause of cancer deaths in Canadian women is colorectal cancer. What is
key to improving long-term survival in women with colorectal cancer?
a. Screening and treatment
b. Primary prevention and early detection
c. Providing information and chemotherapy
d. Prevention of infections and smoking cessation
ANS: B
Primary prevention and early detection are the keys to surviving colorectal cancer. CHNs can
inform women of their risks, the signs and symptoms to be aware of, and screening
opportunities in their communities.
- Testicular cancer is a common solid-tumour malignancy affecting men aged 15 to 35. What is
the most common symptom of testicular cancer?
a. Low back pain
b. Fatigue
c. Painless, firm scrotal mass or swelling
d. Mild to moderate pressure to the scrotum
ANS: C
The most common presenting symptom is a painless, firm scrotal mass or swelling that is
discovered by chance. Low back pain may occur with retroperitoneal lymph node
involvement.
- CHNs who work with older adults who have cognitive impairment and their caregivers should
be aware of the difference between depression, delirium, and dementia, in order to identify the
health concern accurately and intervene accordingly. What description relates specifically to
dementia?
a. Dementia is a mood disorder.
b. Dementia is acute confusion.
c. Dementia means forgetfulness.
d. Dementia is progressive intellectual impairment.
ANS: D
All of the options can indicate cognitive impairment, but dementia is progressive intellectual
impairment. The term mood disorder relates to depression, and acute confusion relates more
specifically to delirium
