Deck 6: Coping With Dying

Question 1

When used by a person with a life-threatening illness, denial can mean:

A) I am not ill.
B) I am ill, but it is not serious.
C) I am seriously ill, but not dying.
D) I am dying, but death will not come for a long time.
E) All of these

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Coping with dying .

A) is confined to ill and dying persons
B) may include family members and friends of the dying person
C) excludes professional caregivers
D) All of these
E) None of these

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The most effective method of understanding the coping of a dying person is .

A) keeping records concerning the person's daily activities
B) having the dying person keep a journal
C) listening carefully to what his or her coping reveals
D) studying theoretical models about coping
E) None of these

Answer 3

C

Question 4

By focusing on coping skills and grouping them into three separate categories, Moos and Schaefer emphasized that _________.

A) not everyone can achieve coping with dying
B) more educated people will cope more effectively with dying
C) coping as an ability can be taught
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 5

"The Horse on the Dining-Room Table" (our Prologue) is an example of:

A) Closed awareness
B) Suspected awareness
C) Open awareness
D) Mutual pretense
E) None of these

Question 6

According to Glaser and Strauss, dying trajectories .

A) are characteristically predictable
B) move toward death at a constant rate of speed
C) are defined by a common shape in terminal illness
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 7

When a person is coping with stressful demands, such as those involved in dying, efforts to manage those demands need to be:

A) Successful
B) Powerful
C) Antithetical
D) Masterful
E) None of these

Question 8

According to Lazarus and Folkman, which of the following is not necessarily true of coping?

A) It involves what are perceived as specific demands.
B) It is likely to be constantly changing.
C) It involves efforts to manage a situation.
D) It involves demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the person's resources.
E) It is intended to master stressful demands.

Question 9

According to Kübler-Ross, the one thing that usually persists throughout dying is .

A) depression
B) anger
C) denial
D) hope
E) acceptance

Question 10

The five-stage model developed by Kübler-Ross .

A) emphasizes psychosocial responses to illness
B) describes tasks to be undertaken while dying
C) stresses physical needs of dying persons
D) has been confirmed by subsequent research
E) None of these

Question 11

Coping with any challenge in life, including dying, is .

A) a learned behavior
B) a religious endeavor
C) an innate ability in human beings
D) a universal trait
E) None of these

Question 12

Purtillo drew attention to how individuals cope with the "little deaths" throughout life. This teaches us that _________.

A) the more deaths you experience, the better will be your coping skills
B) such coping may be indicative of how one is likely to cope with the large crises involved in death itself
C) there are only minimal differences between death and other types of stressors or losses
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 13

People who are dying are .

A) through with living
B) limited to being individuals within whom biochemical systems are malfunctioning
C) living human beings
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 14

According to Moos and Schaefer's analysis of coping domains, attempts to obtain information about a crisis and about alternate causes of action are a form of:

A) Problem-focused coping
B) Appraisal-focused coping
C) Emotion-focused coping
D) Stage-based coping
E) None of these

Question 15

Which of the following is accurate in relationship to the analysis of coping in our book?

A) Coping is largely a matter of one's biological heritage.
B) Coping is learned behavior.
C) Coping is behavior which once adopted is fixed.
D) Coping never includes denial of a loss.
E) Persons who are dying are the only ones who must cope with their approaching death.

Question 16

The awareness contexts that allows for honest communication in interacting with a dying person is:

A) Closed awareness
B) Suspected awareness
C) Open awareness
D) Mutual pretense
E) None of these

Question 17

According to Moos and Schaefer's analysis of coping domains, cognitive avoidance or denial is an example of:

A) Emotion-focused coping
B) Appraisal-focused coping
C) Problem-focused coping
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 18

The "five stages" in the model developed by Kübler-Ross are:

A) Dying, shock, reaction, sadness, and acknowledgement
B) Physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and behavioral
C) Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance
D) Prediagnostic, acute, chronic, recovery, and terminal
E) None of these

Question 19

Challenges facing those who are coping with dying may involve .

A) demands perceived as taxing or exceeding the person's resources
B) attempts to manage demands associated with dying
C) cognitive and behavioral efforts
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 20

A primary focus for understanding dying persons is that:

A) Dying is primarily an anatomical and physiological process.
B) They are already dead or as good as dead.
C) They are living human beings while they are dying.
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 21

Autonomy means .

A) that one is not interdependent
B) that one is in control over the whole of one's life
C) that one has some limited ability to be in charge of one's life
D) that one refuses to turn over much of the management of one's body to professionals
E) that one is a robot

Question 22

According to Doka, tasks in coping with life-threatening illnesses that involve symptom management, preventing health crises, and preserving one's self- concept occur in the:

A) Prediagnostic phase
B) Acute phase
C) Chronic phase
D) Recovery phase
E) Terminal phase

Question 23

Which of the following is correct?

A) There is much research that supports Kübler-Ross' model of coping with dying.
B) No evidence is available that people move from stage one to stage five in Kübler-Ross' model of coping.
C) The meaning of denial in Kübler-Ross' model of coping has been clearly defined.
D) Kübler-Ross' model of coping carefully distinguishes between description and prescription.
E) Kübler-Ross' model of coping carefully takes into account the socioeconomic context of someone's coping with dying.

Question 24

The language of "stages" in the Kübler-Ross model .

A) tends to suggest a linear progression
B) has been positively confirmed by independent research
C) allows for a complete understanding of coping with dying
D) has received widespread acclaim in the scholarly world
E) guarantees acceptance of death

Question 25

A dying person who questions his or her purpose in life and reason for being is engaged in:

A) A physical task
B) A psychological task
C) a social task
D) A spiritual task
E) None of these

Question 26

Concerns about security and autonomy on the part of a dying person suggest that he or she is focusing on _________.

A) physical tasks
B) psychological tasks
C) social tasks
D) spiritual tasks
E) None of these

Question 27

Hope as it occurs in relationship to coping with dying .

A) will maintain the same focus over time
B) is independent of individuals and their cultures
C) is directly related to cure
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 28

The task-based model examined in Chapter 6 focuses on four areas of task work; these are:

A) Dying, shock, reaction, and sadness
B) Physical, psychological, social, and spiritual
C) Denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance
D) Prediagnostic, acute, chronic, and terminal
E) Cognitive, affective, behavioral, and valuational

Question 29

A task-based approach to coping with dying applies to .

A) professional and volunteer members of the health care team
B) the dying person only
C) family members and friends of the dying person
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 30

A dying person who asks to leave the hospital in order to be at home with family members is most likely engaged in:

A) Becoming depressed
B) Seeking spiritual consolation
C) Performing a social task
D) Attempting to satisfy a physical need
E) None of these

Question 31

For a dying person, a task-based model may help resolve his or her problems by .

A) fostering empowerment in coping with dying
B) giving control to caregivers
C) developing dependency
D) discouraging participation in his or her coping
E) None of these

Question 32

Dying persons coping with possible loss of medical coverage for hospital costs are:

A) Engaged in physical tasks
B) Practicing denial
C) Engaged in social tasks
D) Pursuing spiritual tasks
E) None of these

Question 33

"Spiritual" tasks .

A) are the same as "religious" tasks
B) are easily identified since everyone's tasks in this area of task work are the same
C) include a search for meaningfulness
D) may include the reestablishment of broken connections, for instance with one's own body
E) are embraced by the concept of biopsychosocial tasks

Question 34

Seeking freedom from pain, nausea, and vomiting involves .

A) physical tasks
B) psychological tasks
C) social tasks
D) spiritual tasks
E) None of these

Question 35

A dying person:

A) Often tends to reduce the number of persons with whom he or she wants to interact
B) Is typically unconcerned with tasks related to the welfare of other persons
C) Is unlikely to be concerned with loved ones' responses to a decision no longer to seek a cure
D) Will want to maintain close relationships with all of those who have been important in his or her life
E) None of these

Question 36

Spiritual tasks in coping with dying involve .

A) transcendence
B) meaningfulness
C) connectedness
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 37

Doka argued that tasks in coping with life-threatening illnesses might differ in different contexts. He called these contexts "phases" and identified the main ones as:

A) Acute crisis, chronic living-dying, and terminal phases
B) Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance
C) Prediagnostic, acute, chronic, recovery, and terminal phases
D) Diagnostic, acute, degenerative, and terminal phases
E) The metaphor of a "hive of affect"

Question 38

An important lesson to learn from the stage-based model proposed by Kübler-Ross is .

A) individuals can become effective providers of care for dying persons without having to listen to such persons
B) those who are coping with dying are still alive and often have unfinished needs that they may want to address
C) other individuals cannot learn from dying persons and thus come to understand themselves better
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 39

Critics of the Kübler-Ross model have maintained that .

A) it blurs the line between description and prescription
B) it does not take into account the environment of the person who is coping
C) it does not present evidence that people actually do move from stage one through stage five
D) it neglects the totality of the person's life
E) All of these

Question 40

When coping with dying, one's focus of hope may change depending on:

A) The individual
B) His or her culture and history
C) His or her environment
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 41

Northcott and Wilson have written "dying is a process; death is an event." What does that mean? What should it teach us?

Question 42

Explain the task-based model for coping with dying proposed by Charles Corr. What is its purpose and what are its components? To whom does it apply?

Question 43

Explain the stage-based model proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. What is its purpose and what are its components? To whom does it apply?

Question 44

Compare the notion of "stages" as a description of how people cope with dying to the notion of a "hive of affect" as a description of how they cope. What strengths and weaknesses do you find in these two notions?

Question 45

Explain why Kenneth Doka argued that tasks in coping with life-threatening illnesses might differ in different contexts. Identify and explain the five main contexts that Doka described. Be specific and give a concrete example of a task in each of these contexts.

Question 46

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote that "The one thing that usually persists through all these stages is hope." What does that mean? How can it occur?

Question 47

Using an audiovisual, guest speaker, or example presented in class, apply one of the stage-based or task-based models described in Chapter 6 to show how the selected model can teach us useful lessons about the example in question. Discuss the strengths and limitations of the model you select.

Question 48

Avery Weisman noted that coping involves more than an automatic response or a defensive reaction; it is, or at least can be, an active process. What does this mean? How does it relate to our discussion in Chapter 6?

Question 49

Explain Glaser and Strauss's theory of "awareness contexts."

Question 50

Define and briefly explain the meaning of the term "coping." Give one concrete example selected from your course work that illustrates this understanding of coping.