Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) Practice Test

How can a nurse assess the coping strategies of a patient diagnosed with borderline personality disorder?

1. By evaluating their past grades in school

2. By measuring their daily medication intake

3. By exploring their emotional responses and coping behaviors

4. By analyzing the patient's family history

The correct answer is: By exploring their emotional responses and coping behaviors

Assessing the coping strategies of a patient diagnosed with borderline personality disorder involves understanding their emotional responses and how they react to stressors in their lives. Patients with this disorder often experience intense emotions and may use a variety of strategies to cope with these feelings, which can include healthy mechanisms like seeking support or unhealthy ones like avoidance or self-harm. By exploring emotional responses and coping behaviors, the nurse can identify patterns in how the patient manages distress and interacts with others. This exploration could involve discussing past experiences, current challenges, and specific incidents that led to emotional turmoil, allowing the nurse to gain insights into the effectiveness of the patient’s coping strategies and the potential need for new interventions or therapies. In contrast, evaluating past grades in school does not provide direct insight into a patient's current coping mechanisms, as academic performance is not always indicative of emotional resilience or coping ability. Measuring daily medication intake is more about adherence to treatment rather than understanding coping strategies, and analyzing the patient's family history, while potentially informative about background issues or influences, does not directly relate to the patient’s current coping behaviors.