NCCAP Activity Program Development & Implementation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which scheduling practice best supports residents with sundowning syndrome?
- Scheduling stimulating group activities in the late afternoon
- Providing calm, familiar activities during late afternoon and early evening hours (Correct answer)
- Canceling all programming after 3 p.m.
- Increasing lighting and noise after dinner
Correct answer: Providing calm, familiar activities during late afternoon and early evening hours
Calm, structured, familiar activities during peak sundowning hours reduce agitation and confusion associated with this dementia-related syndrome.
Question 2: Life review and reminiscence activities are grounded primarily in which developmental theory?
- Piaget's cognitive development theory
- Erikson's stages of psychosocial development (Correct answer)
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Bandura's social learning theory
Correct answer: Erikson's stages of psychosocial development
Erikson's final stage — ego integrity vs. despair — supports reminiscence as a tool for older adults to find meaning and acceptance in their life story.
Question 3: When adapting a cooking activity for a resident with moderate cognitive impairment, the BEST approach is to:
- Exclude the resident to prevent safety risks
- Assign complex multi-step tasks to build skills
- Break the task into simple, sequential one-step instructions (Correct answer)
- Have staff complete the activity while the resident watches
Correct answer: Break the task into simple, sequential one-step instructions
Breaking tasks into single-step instructions allows residents with cognitive impairment to participate meaningfully while maintaining safety and dignity.
Question 4: A new activity professional is building a community volunteer program. The FIRST step should be:
- Posting flyers in the local community
- Assessing resident interests and needs that volunteers could address (Correct answer)
- Contacting local organizations for available volunteers
- Creating a volunteer training manual
Correct answer: Assessing resident interests and needs that volunteers could address
Resident assessment must drive program development so that volunteer efforts are matched to genuine needs and interests rather than volunteer convenience.
Question 5: The PRIMARY purpose of an annual activity program evaluation is to:
- Justify the activity department budget to administration
- Identify gaps and measure whether programs continue to meet residents' evolving needs (Correct answer)
- Create new marketing materials for family recruitment
- Document volunteer hours for tax purposes
Correct answer: Identify gaps and measure whether programs continue to meet residents' evolving needs
Annual evaluation ensures programming remains relevant, effective, and aligned with the current needs and preferences of the resident population.
Question 6: Which interdisciplinary team member should the activity professional collaborate with most closely when planning therapeutic exercise programs?
- Dietary services
- Physical or occupational therapy (Correct answer)
- Medical records
- Housekeeping services
Correct answer: Physical or occupational therapy
Physical and occupational therapists provide clinical guidance on residents' functional abilities, contraindications, and safe activity modifications for exercise programming.
Question 7: An activity professional wants to increase resident participation in spiritual care programming. The ethical approach is to:
- Require all residents to attend a non-denominational service weekly
- Offer diverse spiritual options based on assessed individual beliefs and preferences (Correct answer)
- Schedule only majority-religion services to maximize attendance
- Delegate all spiritual programming to the chaplain and avoid involvement
Correct answer: Offer diverse spiritual options based on assessed individual beliefs and preferences
Ethical activity practice respects each resident's spiritual beliefs and offers diverse programming to honor individual rights and preferences.
NCCAP Activity Program Development & Implementation 3
Which scheduling practice best supports residents with sundowning syndrome?