Deck 14: Death and Dying

Question 1

Reminiscence

A) allows the elderly to make reasonable projections about the future.
B) typically increases elders' anxiety about death.
C) is almost always a matter of private reflection.
D) for the elderly involves only vague memories of past events.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In the context, patients do not know if they are going to die because the doctor and staff deliberately keep the information from them.

A) open awareness
B) suspicion awareness
C) ritual drama of mutual pretense
D) closed awareness

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is evidence that we are a death-denying society?

A) euphemisms for the process of dying
B) funerals presenting an embalmed and painted body
C) sensitive television dramas that depict the death of a loved one
D) All of these choices

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Fear of death appears to be greatest in

A) young adulthood.
B) early middle-age.
C) late middle-age.
D) old age.

Question 5

Which of the following is most likely to be associated with lower death fears, death anxiety, or death depression scores?

A) attitudes toward mortality
B) knowledge of religious dogma
C) frequency of church attendance
D) belief in the paranormal

Question 6

Many medical schools in the country

A) have at least 1 or 2 lectures for students on death and dying, but few schools offer an entire course on the topic.
B) offer one or two elective courses on death and dying.
C) require at least one course on death and dying.
D) offer a specialty in administering to dying patients.

Question 7

Kübler­Ross stages of dying include all of the following EXCEPT

A) denial.
B) anger.
C) self-hatred.
D) acceptance.

Question 8

According to Kübler­Ross's theory,

A) the dying person completes each stage in an orderly fashion.
B) a stage of initial shock is dysfunctional but inevitable.
C) depression must be avoided if the dying person is to die in peace.
D) most people move into a state of submission that is devoid of emotion.

Question 9

A study by Lofland (1979) on dying suggests that

A) basic personality traits during life are not good predictors of how one will face death.
B) people can decide how much activity to devote to the dying role.
C) old people experience a different process of dying than young people.
D) people have no choices in the way that they die.

Question 10

Death talk with the elderly

A) can be therapeutic because it gets concerns out in the open.
B) is impractical because it increases their fears unnecessarily.
C) is unrealistic because younger people cannot understand these feelings.
D) should be minimized to avoid depression of both the dying and their loved ones.

Question 11

A life review differs from reminiscence in that it

A) involves a comprehensive inventory of major events in a person's life history.
B) is articulated to others in oral stories.
C) evaluates the past and attempts to resolve conflicts.
D) takes place in the later, not younger years.

Question 12

All of the following are reasons for greater impersonalization of death in modern societies EXCEPT

A) life extending medical procedures.
B) we choose to deny it more today.
C) hospital and insurance bureaucracies.
D) secularism.

Question 13

The term "interiority" refers to becoming more focused on

A) one's immediate, current surroundings rather than past events.
B) internal messages and stories rather than outside social issues.
C) one's own family rather than friends and acquaintances.
D) social issues within the local community rather than the nation.

Question 14

The concept of death anxiety refers to

A) ambiguous feelings about whether death is desirable.
B) feelings of apprehension about death that lack an identifiable source.
C) feelings that our lives have not been meaningful.
D) fear of the condition of being dead rather than the process of dying.

Question 15

The patient is most likely to try to project a healthy, well-groomed appearance and behave as if he or she will be leaving the hospital soon in the context of

A) closed awareness.
B) suspicion awareness.
C) ritual drama of mutual pretense.
D) open awareness.

Question 16

Death competency refers to

A) our capability and skill in dealing with death.
B) being able to identify the specific source of apprehension about death.
C) the ability of the dying person to die with dignity.
D) the ability of others to make the dying person comfortable.

Question 17

About percent of American deaths occur in hospital rooms or convalescent hospitals.

A) 35
B) 50
C) 65
D) 85

Question 18

Regarding dying and the level of pain, most people

A) begin to experience deteriorating health years before they are close to death.
B) are in poor health a year before they die.
C) die relatively painless deaths.
D) die in a great deal of pain.

Question 19

Awareness of finitude

A) refers to a sense of closeness to death.
B) is associated with reaching out to others for comfort and support.
C) is likely to result in the telling of life stories to others.
D) usually results in people trying to remain active and externally connected.

Question 20

For older adults, fear of death is associated with

A) chronic illness.
B) deaths of friends and relatives.
C) less time for important life tasks.
D) pain.

Question 21

According to your text, around percent of the general public favors legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

A) 50
B) 66
C) 75
D) 90

Question 22

A hospice program is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT

A) it focuses on the disease of the dying person.
B) it counsels relatives of the dying.
C) it aids those who want to die at home.
D) it may operate in a special unit of a hospital.

Question 23

The cost of cremation is less than the cost of traditional burial.

A) 1/3
B) 1/4
B) twice
C) 1/2

Question 24

Examples of "Advance Directives" include:

A) Living Will
B) Durable Power of Attorney
C) Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order
D) grants physicians the option of ending the life of a terminally ill patient by active euthanasia if they determine the patient is in severe pain or no longer has normal brain function.

Question 25

Which of the following illustrates active euthanasia or assisted suicide on a patient with terminal, horribly painful, or debilitation illness?

A) not attempting to resuscitate the person.
B) stopping the use of a respirator.
C) not beginning a intravenous drip if the person refuses to eat or drink.
D) administering a fatal injection of a narcotic.

Question 26

Comprising only 13% of the general population, adults over age 65 account for what percent of suicides?

A) 20
B) 25
C) 30
D) 5

Question 27

Informed consent requires all of the following, except:
A) ability to afford treatment

A) competency to give general consent
B) ability to give consent freely
D) understanding of all meanings of options

Question 28

Nearly percent of all Americans will have a "managed death" in a hospital or skilled nursing facility that can lengthen life for up to several years through medical and nursing interventions.

A) 60
B) 70
C) 80
D) 90

Question 29

Dr. Kevorkian referred to assisted suicide as "patholysis," which in Greek means freedom

A) of choice.
B) from life.
C) from suffering.
D) of death.

Question 30

Most people prefer to die

A) at home.
B) in a hospice residential center.
C) in a hospital.
D) in a nursing or convalescent home.

Question 31

The Hemlock Society founded by Derek Humphry had a motto of:

A) a good death is better than a bad life
B) good life, good death through control and choice
C) everyone has a right to die
D) suicides are solely emotional decisions

Question 32

In 1997, was the first state to pass a law allowing physician assisted suicide.

A) Oregon
B) California
C) New York
D) Texas

Question 33

Of people over age 70, the highest rates of suicide are of

A) white males
B) white females
C) African American males
D) African American females

Question 34

Compared to older men, older women are

A) more likely to attempt suicide
B) more likely to kill themselves with guns
C) more successful in their attempts to kill themselves
D) less likely to use poison as a method of suicide

Question 35

Palliative care as practiced by hospice refers to

A) tasks such as bathing and feeding a patient.
B) passive support of a patient by listening or just being there.
C) aggressive comfort care.
D) providing active companionship.

Question 36

What information does the law provide regarding assisted suicide?

A) Doctors can administer a lethal dose of medication for any reason.
B) Two doctors must rule the patient to be competent and the decision to end ones' life is voluntary.
C) Lethal dosages of medications can be given to someone who has less than 6 months to live.
D) Assisted suicide is not allowed in any circumstances.

Question 37

Which of the following is a common reason for prompting suicides of people 65 and over?

A) aversion to body changes
B) social isolation
C) loss of a loved one
D) all of these choices

Question 38

Since 1990, what percentage of Californians choose cremation?

A) 41
B) 53
C) 62
D) 78

Question 39

Which of the following segments of the U.S. population are least likely to support physician-assisted suicide?

A) the elderly and Asian males
B) white males with upper or middle class status
C) African Americans, women, and the poor
D) white females and the elderly

Question 40

"Death with dignity"

A) refers to the right to choose one's manner of death.
B) is best achieved by actively engaging life up until the moment of death.
C) may communicate to individuals certain expectations for their behavior as they die.
D) is best achieved in an institutional setting where professionals can attend to the dying person's needs.

Question 41

All fifty states have legislation allowing for living wills.

Question 42

The medicalization paradigm emphasizes personal autonomy in choosing medical treatment.

Question 43

The final moments of life are seldom observed, even by family.

Question 44

The goal for hospital staff is to maintain an open awareness context for dying patients.

Question 45

Complicated grief reactions may

A) reflect feelings of ambivalence toward the deceased person.
B) express themselves in masked reactions, such as headaches, insomnia, and pain.
C) be caused by the circumstances of death.
D) trigger grief over old losses that had been repressed.
E) All of these choices

Question 46

People with lower death depression scores are more likely to say that the possibility of life after death is the most important aspect of religion.

Question 47

Most bereaved persons tend to recover within a year period.

A) one
B) two
C) five
D) ten

Question 48

Bereavement refers to a state of loss.

Question 49

What evidence suggests ours is a death-denying society? What factors contribute to the impersonalization of death in our modern society?

Question 50

Suicide rates throughout the world are generally higher for people over age 65.

Question 51

Elders as a group are more fearful of death than younger persons.

Question 52

Most elderly people die at home.

Question 53

According to Kübler­Ross, loved ones should disengage when the loved one reaches the last stage of submission to
death.

Question 54

Medical research in the field of pain control has been directed primarily by humanitarian philosophy.

Question 55

Researchers have found a more positive attitude toward death among institutionalized elderly than among elderly living in their own homes.

Question 56

Seeking to remain active and externally connected may damage the self-concept of the dying person.

Question 57

The capability exists to control pain far better than is often done.

Question 58

Studies of nursing home residents show that chronological age is a better predictor of disengagement than the sense of closeness to death.

Question 59

Grief is the emotional response experienced by bereavement

Question 60

The broken-heart syndrome refers to the findings that

A) most widows and widowers suffer severe clinical depression.
B) most widows and widowers mask their reactions of grief.
C) the survivor feels severe sorrow for years after the loss.
D) some bereaved people die soon after their loved one.

Question 61

Identify the various kinds of complicated grief reactions and the reasons they may occur.

Question 62

What are the requirements for information consent to treatment?

Question 63

What problems do doctors and other hospital staff face in caring for dying patients? What can be done to help them resolve these problems?

Question 64

Why are older people as a group less fearful of death? Why are some elders more afraid than others of death?

Question 65

Why do people fear dying and death? What factors have been found to decrease the fear of death?

Question 66

How do reminiscence and a life review help elderly cope with dying?

Question 67

What are the arguments for and against physician assisted suicide?

Question 68

Describe hospice care and services rendered under this form of care.