She tearfully tells the nurse “I can’t take it when she accuses me of stealing her things.” Which response by the nurse will be most therapeutic?
A. ”Don’t take it personally. Your mother does not mean it.”
B. “Have you tried discussing this with your mother?”
C. “This must be difficult for you and your mother.”
D. “Next time ask your mother where her things were last seen.”
Correct Answer: C. “This must be difficult for you and your mother.”
This reflects the feeling of the daughter that shows empathy. Provide client support. Offer support and empathy when a client expresses embarrassment at inability to remember people, events, and places. Interventions tend to focus on helping these patients and their family and caregivers cope and adapt to the condition, and furthermore, to help patients function independently within their context. Rehabilitation approaches need to be individualized and should focus on the specific deficit by developing compensatory strategies.
Option A: Encourage expression of feelings. Encourage the client to express honest feelings in relation to loss of prior level of functioning; acknowledge the pain of loss; support the client through the process of grieving. Assist with memory deficit. Devise methods in assisting the client with memory deficit; these aids may assist the client to function more independently, thereby increasing self-esteem.
Option B: This response does not encourage the verbalization of feelings. Encourage communication. Encourage client’s attempts to communicate; if verbalizations are not understandable, express to the client what you think he or she intended to say. Encourage the client to be as independent as possible in self-care activities; provide a written schedule of tasks to be performed.
Option D: Giving advice does not encourage verbalization. Reminisce events with the client. Encourage reminiscence and discussion of life review; also encourage discussion of present-day events; sharing picture albums, if possible, is especially good. Encourage participation in group activities; caregiver may need to accompany client at first, until he or she feels secure that group members will be accepting, regardless of limitations in verbal communication.