Psychosocial Support and Family-Centered Care Flashcards
6 cards from real CPHON practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Psychosocial Support and Family-Centered Care flashcards as text
A parent of a newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patient asks the nurse why the child life specialist is visiting their child. Which response best explains the child life specialist's role?
Answer: Child life specialists use therapeutic play, preparation, and coping strategies to help children manage the stress of illness and medical procedures
Child life specialists are trained professionals who address the psychological and developmental needs of hospitalized children through therapeutic play, procedural preparation, distraction, and coping skill development.
The parents of a 4-year-old with leukemia are divorcing during treatment. The child has become clingy, regressed to bedwetting, and refuses to let go of parents when they leave. The nurse should:
Answer: Acknowledge this is expected stress response, validate parental concerns, involve child life, and communicate the behavior pattern to the oncology social worker
Regression and separation anxiety are normal stress responses in young children facing medical illness plus family disruption. The appropriate nursing response is validation, child life involvement, and social work referral to support the whole family system.
Which communication approach is most appropriate when a CPHON nurse needs to discuss a child's terminal prognosis with the family?
Answer: Use clear, compassionate, jargon-free language; assess what the family already knows; follow the child's lead regarding inclusion; and ensure a private, quiet setting
Best practice for delivering serious news involves choosing a private setting, assessing prior knowledge, using plain language, listening to the family's emotional response, and including age-appropriate communication with the child per their cues and parental guidance.
A mother of a child receiving cancer treatment tells the nurse she feels guilty that she 'gave' her child cancer. Which response is most therapeutic?
Answer: Acknowledge her feelings, then gently educate that childhood cancer is not caused by anything parents did, and refer to the social worker
Parental guilt is extremely common following a child's cancer diagnosis. Therapeutic response involves first acknowledging the emotional experience, then offering evidence-based reassurance that most childhood cancers have no known parental cause, and connecting the family with psychosocial support.
Family-centered care (FCC) in pediatric oncology nursing is best defined as:
Answer: A philosophy of care that recognizes the family as the constant in the child's life and integrates the family as partners in all aspects of care
Family-centered care recognizes that the family is the primary source of strength for the child; it involves families as full partners in care planning, decision-making, and daily caregiving activities across all settings.
A 14-year-old oncology patient tells the nurse privately that she is deeply depressed and sometimes thinks about not wanting to be alive, though she has no specific plan. The most appropriate immediate action is:
Answer: Take the disclosure seriously, ensure patient safety, notify the provider and social worker, and stay with the patient
Passive suicidal ideation ('not wanting to be alive') is a psychiatric emergency that supersedes confidentiality. The nurse must take this seriously, ensure immediate safety, notify the provider and social work or psychiatry, and remain with the patient.