The Spouse of a Patient Recently Diagnosed with Terminal Cancer

question 10

Multiple Choice

The spouse of a patient recently diagnosed with terminal cancer has voiced concerns about her husband's continual denial of his disease.What should the nurse consider when planning a response to this concern?

• A)It may be helpful for the patient's emotional state at this time to be in a state of denial.
• B)Denial is abnormal and the patient needs to have a consultation with a therapist.
• C)It will be helpful to plan an intervention to force the patient to acknowledge his disease.
• D)There is a limited amount of time left in the patient's life so the denial must be rapidly worked through.

---

Definitions:

Negative

A term often used to denote the absence or opposition of a condition, quality, or action.

Reinforcement

In psychology, a process in which a behavior is strengthened by the outcome that follows it, either through a positive reinforcement or the removal of a negative stimulus.

Shaping

A method of conditioning by which successive approximations toward a target behavior are reinforced, used in both animal training and therapeutic settings.

Classical Conditioning

Acquiring knowledge when an environmental stimulus is linked to one that naturally exists.