Mental Health NCLEX Questions for Psychiatric Nursing: Theory, Principles And Trends

Which understanding is the basis for the nursing actions focused on minimizing mental health promotion of families with chronically mentally ill members?

a. Family members are at an increased risk for mental illness.
b. The mental health care system is not prepared to deal with family crises.
c. Family members are seldom prepared to cope with a chronically ill individual.
d. The chronically mentally ill receive care best when delivered in a formal setting.

Which nursing activity shows the nurse actively engaged in the primary prevention of mental disorders?

a. Providing a patient, whose depression is well managed, with medication on time
b. Making regular follow-up visits to a new mother at risk for post-partum depression
c. Providing the family of a patient, diagnosed with depression, information on suicide prevention
d. Assisting a patient who has obsessive compulsive tendencies prepare and practice for a job interview

Which intervention reflects attention being focused on the patient’s intentions regarding his diagnosis of severe depression?

a. Being placed on suicide precautions
b. Encouraging visits by his family members
c. Receiving a combination of medications to address his emotional needs
d. Being asked to decide where he will attend his prescribed therapy sessions

When a patient’s family asks why their chronically mentally ill adult child is being discharged to a community-based living facility, the nurse responds:

a. “It is a way to meet the need for social support.”
b. “It is too expensive to keep stabilized patients in acute care settings.”
c. “This type of facility will provide the specialized care that is needed.”
d. “Being out in the community will help provide hope and purpose for living.”

What is the best explanation to offer when the mother of a chronically ill teenage patient asks, “Under what circumstances would he be considered incompetent?”

a. “When you can provide the court with enough evidence to show that he is not able to care for himself safely.”
b. “It is not likely that someone his age would be determined to be incompetent regardless of his mental condition.”
c. “He would have to engage in behavior that would result in harm to himself or to someone else; like you or his siblings.”
d. “If the illness becomes so severe that his judgment is impaired to the point where the decisions he makes are harmful to himself or to others.”

Which psychiatric nursing intervention shows an understanding of integrated care?

a. A chronically abused woman is assessed for anxiety.
b. A manic patient is taken to the gym to use the exercise equipment.
c. The older adult diagnosed with depression is monitored for suicidal ideations.
d. A teenager who refuses to obey the unit’s rules is not allow to play video games.

What reason does the nurse give the patient for the emphasis and attention being paid to the recovery phase of their treatment plan?

a. Recovery care, even when intensive, is less expensive than acute psychiatric care.
b. Effective recovery care is likely to result in fewer relapses and subsequent hospitalizations.
c. Planning for recovery care is time consuming and involves dealing with many complicated details.
d. Recovery care is usually done on an outpatient basis and so is generally better accepted by patients.

The nurse is attending a neighborhood meeting where a half-way house is being proposed for the neighborhood when a member of the community states, “We don’t want the facility; we especially don’t want violent people living near us.” The response by the nurse that best addresses the public’s concern is:

a. “In truth, most individuals with psychiatric disorder are passive and withdrawn and pose little threat to those around them.”
b. “The mentally ill seldom behave in the manner they are portrayed by movies; they are people just like the rest of us.”
c. “Patients with psychiatric disorder are so well medicated that they do not display violent behaviors.”
d. “The mentally ill deserve a safe, comfortable place to live among people who truly care for them.”

Which activity shows that a therapeutic alliance has been established between the nurse and patient?

a. The nurse respects the patient’s right to privacy when visitors are spending time with the patient.
b. The patient is eagerly attending all group sessions and working independently on identifying their personal stressors.
c. The patient is freely describing their feelings related to the physical and emotional trauma they experienced as a child with the nurse.
d. The nurse dutifully administers the patient’s medications on time and with appropriate knowledge of the potential side effects.

Mental health care reform has called for parity between psychiatric and medical diagnoses. Which is an example of such parity?

a. Depression treatment is not paid for as readily as is treatment for asthma.
b. The mentally ill patient will be protected by law against social stigma.
c. Medical practitioners are trained to be proficient at treating mental disorders.
d. Psychiatric service reimbursement will be equivalent to that of medical services.

Which assessment findings suggest to the nurse that this patient has characteristics seen in an individual who has reached self-actualization? Select all that apply.

a. Reports to have, “found peace and security in my religious faith”
b. Effectively “changed occupations” when a chronic vision problem worsened
c. Has consistently earned a six-figure salary as an architect for the last 10 years
d. Has been in a supportive, loving relationship with the same individual for 15 years
e. Provides free literacy tutoring help at the local homeless shelter 3 evenings a week

Which nursing activities represent the tertiary level of mental health care? Select all that apply.

a. Providing a depression screening at a local college
b. Helping a mental-challenged patient learn to make correct change
c. Reporting an incidence of possible elder abuse to the appropriate legal agency
d. Regularly assessing a patient’s understanding of their prescribed antidepressants
e. Providing a 6-week parenting class to teenage parents through a local high school

Which nursing actions indicate an understanding of the priority issues currently facing psychiatric mental health nursing today? Select all that apply.

a. Working on the facility’s ‘Safe Use of Restraints Policy’ revision committee
b. Advocating for increased salaries for all levels of psychiatric mental health nurses
c. Attending a political rally for increased state funding for mental health service providers
d. Offering an in-service to facility staff regarding the cultural implications of caring for the Hispanic patient
e. Joining the state nursing committee working on the role and scope of practice of the advanced practice psychiatric nurse

Which assessment findings describe risk factors that increase the potential risk for mental illness? Select all that apply.

a. Possesses high tolerance for stress
b. Is very curious about ‘how things work’
c. Admits to being a member of an ethnic gang
d. Only practicing Jew among school classmates
e. Has a younger sibling who is mentally challenged

Which nursing actions show a focus on the fundamental goals that guide psychiatric mental health nurses in providing patient care? Select all that apply.

a. Offering an informational session of identifying signs of depression at a local senior center
b. Attending a workshop on evidence practice interventions for the chronically depressed patient
c. Keeping strict but appropriate boundaries with a patient diagnosed with a personality disorder
d. Asking a parent who has just experienced the death of a child if they could consider talking with a grief counselor
e. Identifying what help a patient diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease will need with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)