CCM Psychosocial Assessment and Intervention 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A case manager is working with a client from a collectivist culture who defers all healthcare decisions to their family. How should the case manager respond?
- Encourage the client to make independent decisions as is standard practice
- Respect the client's cultural framework and involve the family in decision-making (Correct answer)
- Document that the client lacks decision-making capacity
- Proceed with the care plan without family involvement
Correct answer: Respect the client's cultural framework and involve the family in decision-making
Culturally competent care requires recognizing and respecting collectivist decision-making frameworks rather than imposing individualistic Western models of autonomy.
Question 2: Which of the following assessment findings would indicate a client's risk of caregiver burnout requiring immediate intervention?
- The caregiver reports enjoying spending time with the care recipient
- The caregiver states they are sleeping well and maintaining social contacts
- The caregiver reports exhaustion, resentment, and neglecting their own health (Correct answer)
- The caregiver has been providing care for less than one month
Correct answer: The caregiver reports exhaustion, resentment, and neglecting their own health
Exhaustion, resentment toward the care recipient, and self-neglect are hallmark signs of caregiver burnout requiring prompt psychosocial intervention.
Question 3: A case manager uses the biopsychosocial model during assessment. Which of the following correctly identifies the 'social' component of this model?
- The client's diagnosis of hypertension
- The client's belief that they deserve to be sick
- The client's housing instability and lack of employment (Correct answer)
- The client's coping style and personality traits
Correct answer: The client's housing instability and lack of employment
The social component of the biopsychosocial model includes environmental and situational factors such as housing, employment, income, and social relationships.
Question 4: A case manager is conducting a psychosocial assessment and the client discloses active thoughts of harming their neighbor. Under what legal duty is the case manager obligated to act?
- Duty to warn and protect (Tarasoff duty) (Correct answer)
- Duty to maintain confidentiality at all costs
- Duty to defer to the treating psychiatrist only
- Duty to hospitalize the client immediately without disclosure
Correct answer: Duty to warn and protect (Tarasoff duty)
The Tarasoff ruling established the duty to warn identifiable third parties when a client makes credible threats of harm, overriding confidentiality.
Question 5: A case manager is helping a client with a new cancer diagnosis process their emotional response. The client states, 'If I promise to go to church every day, maybe God will take the cancer away.' Which Kübler-Ross stage does this represent?
- Anger
- Depression
- Acceptance
- Bargaining (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Bargaining
Bargaining involves making deals or promises in hopes of reversing or delaying the loss, often directed toward a higher power or medical team.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST describes 'social determinants of health' as they relate to psychosocial case management?
- Genetic risk factors that influence susceptibility to mental illness
- Conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect health outcomes (Correct answer)
- Psychological traits that determine a client's health behaviors
- Medical diagnoses that have a social stigma attached to them
Correct answer: Conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect health outcomes
Social determinants of health are the non-medical factors — such as poverty, education, housing, and community — that significantly shape health outcomes.
Question 7: A case manager is facilitating a family meeting after a client's stroke. The client's adult children disagree about whether to place their parent in a nursing facility. What is the case manager's MOST appropriate role?
- Side with the majority of family members to resolve the conflict quickly
- Make the placement decision on behalf of the family
- Facilitate discussion, present options with pros and cons, and support the family's decision-making process (Correct answer)
- Defer the decision entirely to the attending physician
Correct answer: Facilitate discussion, present options with pros and cons, and support the family's decision-making process
The case manager's role in family meetings is to facilitate informed decision-making by presenting options, clarifying information, and supporting the family's process — not to decide for them.
CCM Psychosocial Assessment and Intervention 5
A case manager is working with a client from a collectivist culture who defers all healthcare decisions to their family.
How should the case manager respond?