Adolescent
A 17-year-old client who has been taking an antidepressant for six weeks has returned to the clinic for a medication check. When the nurse talks with the client and her mother, the mother reports that she has to remind the client to take her antidepressant every day. The client says, "Yeah, I'm pretty bad about remembering to take my meds, but I never miss a dose because Mom always bugs me about taking it." Which of the following responses would be effective for the nurse to make to the client? A) "It's a good thing your mom takes care of you by reminding you to take your meds." B) "It seems there are some difficulties with being responsible for your medications that we need to address". C) "You'll never be able to handle your medication administration at college next year if you're so dependent on her." D) "I'm surprised your mother allows you to be so irresponsible."
B) "It seems there are some difficulties with being responsible for your medications that we need to address". Reason: The client and mother need to address the issue of responsibility for medication administration and only Option 2 opens that subject to discussion. Option 1 reinforces the mother's over-involvement in medication taking. Options 3 and 4 make negative comments about the client and mother that are unlikely to engage them in problem-solving about the matter.
A nurse is about to conduct a sexual history for a 16-year-old female who is accompanied by her mother. What is an appropriate question for the nurse to ask this client or her mother? A) "What do you think about having your mother leave the room now?" B) "Mother, do you think your daughter is sexually active?" C) "Mother, I am going to ask you to wait a few minutes in the waiting room now so I can complete the health history with your daughter." D) "The two of you seem like you share everything. I am going to ask questions about sexual history now."
C) "Mother, I am going to ask you to wait a few minutes in the waiting room now so I can complete the health history with your daughter." Reason: Confidentiality and privacy are critical developmental needs for the adolescent. These needs are important to enable the nurse to establish a relationship of trust with the adolescent. A sexual history should be conducted with a teen without parents. Therefore, the nurse should not ask the mother to provide information or put the daughter in a position of having to make a decision about her mother remaining in the room. Inform the adolescent that this information is confidential, and will not be shared with the parent. Inform the adolescent that issues of abuse or life-threatening issues are required by law to be disclosed to the authorities, and all other information is private.
A nurse is performing a psychosocial assessment on a 14-year-old adolescent. Which emotional response is typical during early adolescence? A) Frequent anger B) Cooperativeness C) Moodiness D) Combativeness
C) Moodiness Reason: Moodiness may occur often during early adolescence. Frequent anger and combativeness are more typical of middle adolescence. Cooperativeness typically occurs during late adolescence.
