Chapter 20: Death, Dying, and Grief in Families

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Grieving is usually a private process, but because terrorism, mass shootings, and school tragedies have involved many people, the term ______ was coined by Walter in 2008.

A. performative mourning

B. population grieving

C. public mourning

D. social grief

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. In DSM-5, ______ is described using criteria including persistent yearning, intense sorrow, frequent crying, difficulty accepting death, feeling alone, or having anger related to loss.

A. grief-induced psychosis

B. post-loss obsessive compulsive disorder

C. major bereavement depression

D. persistent complex bereavement disorder

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. ______ refers to the essential cognitive process of confronting loss.

A. Post-grief development

B. Post-traumatic growth

C. Grief work

D. Yearning

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. When forming new attachment bonds, individuals maintain a ______ attachment with the deceased.

A. symbolic

B. loss

C. fragile

D. constant

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What do growth in the perception of self, interpersonal relationships, and philosophy of life all have in common?

A. They all reflect a person’s reality prior to a loved one’s death.

B. They all refer to a person’s post-traumatic growth following the death of a loved one.

C. Each of these factors is negatively affected after the death of a loved one.

D. They are entirely unique to the bereavement process.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Individual-based theories about grieving ______.

A. are almost universally accepted

B. are based on the family system

C. have a broad application to the general population

D. arose out of organizational theory

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Critics argue that ______ theories imagine grieving as a passive process, are population specific, and characterize grieving as a linear process.

A. cognitive behavioral

B. family systems

C. developmental stage

D. social constructionist

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The ______ theory involves (1) keeping mental representations of the deceased in your mind; (2) assigning meaning to the bereavement process that maintains the view that the world is still meaningful; and (3) issues of relationship loss.

A. cognitive behavioral

B. family systems

C. developmental stage

D. social constructionist

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. What kind of orientation involves coping with loss through grief work, dealing with denial, and avoidance?

A. loss orientation

B. restoration orientation

C. grieving process orientation

D. bereavement orientation

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. What orientation involves adjusting to various life changes triggered by death, changing routines, and transitioning to a new equilibrium?

A. loss orientation

B. restoration orientation

C. grieving process orientation

D. bereavement orientation

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. ______ theory focuses on the dynamics of change and a way to describe relationships, offering a nonpathologizing way to view grief.

A. Cognitive behavioral

B. Family systems

C. Developmental stage

D. Social constructionist

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Rando’s (1993) “Six R’s” model is a(n) ______.

A. family- and community-focused model

B. attachment-based model

C. individually centered process–based model

D. psychoeducational model

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. How does the “timely” death of an elderly grandparent compare to the “untimely” death of a child?

A. The sudden and unexpected nature of the child’s death may be more difficult for the family to cope with.

B. Both deaths are traumatic and would likely lead to the same reaction among family members.

C. Unlike the death of a child, families experience “shattered normalcy” with the loss of an elderly grandparent.

D. The reaction to the death of an elderly grandparent is generally more intense.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Characteristics of the Loss

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Eva’s father was in prison for murder when she was born. He died when she was 2, her mother remarried, and the new husband raised Eva as his own. Following his death, her mother told her about her biological father. Eva is experiencing grief, although society does not recognize her right, need, or capacity to grieve.

A. unimportant grief

B. dissociated grief

C. misappropriated grief

D. disenfranchised grief

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Characteristics of the Loss

Difficulty Level: Hard

15. The ______ is an example of disenfranchised grief.

A. death of a child

B. death of an extramarital partner

C. death of a sibling killed in a mass shooting

D. death of a long-term partner

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Characteristics of the Loss

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. A family’s tangible resources include ______.

A. self-esteem

B. sense of mastery

C. money

D. friendship

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Factors Affecting Family Vulnerability

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. A family’s assumptions about the world help us understand ______.

A. a family’s stress level and support system

B. a family’s resources and stress level

C. a family’s perception of death and their coping strategies

D. a family’s support system and resources

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Belief System, Definition, and Appraisal

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. A high schooler died in a car accident and a teacher at his school was heard saying, “he was probably texting and lost control of the car.” This is an example of ______.

A. the “just world assumption”

B. disenfranchised grief

C. a true statement

D. intangible resources

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Family Belief System, Definition, and Appraisal

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. What does having a family legacy of looking at loss refer to?

A. the way a family makes meaning of a death using media portrayals

B. the way parents talk to their children about death

C. a public statement about a family member’s death, such as an obituary

D. the family’s way of looking at death that has been handed down from generation to generation

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Belief System, Definition, and Appraisal

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. Boundary ambiguity arises when ______.

A. the family raises boundaries between themselves and the outside world to grieve privately

B. the facts surrounding the death are unclear, causing confusion and interrupted grieving

C. the death means that the family must make major lifestyle changes because the deceased was the breadwinner

D. the family realizes that grief is a long, hard process

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Belief System, Definition, and Appraisal

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. What kind of grieving do women typically display?

A. intuitive grieving

B. instrumental grieving

C. process grieving

D. loss orientation grieving

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Factors of Diversity

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Preet’s daughter died 6 months ago in a car accident. Preet is experiencing depression but has been hiding his symptoms in order to protect his grieving wife Sandra and their son Vishal. Preet is experiencing the ______ experienced by many men in the wake of loss.

A. patriarchal obligation

B. double bind

C. restrictive grieving processes

D. intuitive grieving style

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Factors of Diversity

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. Grief is a socially constructed phenomenon. This means that ______.

A. mass shootings cause grief at the community level

B. grief is experienced in the same way regardless of group characteristics

C. experiences of grief depend on social characteristics

D. the way people grieve is universal

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Factors of Diversity

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Considering cognitive development in grieving is most important for ______.

A. the elderly

B. the chronically ill

C. parents

D. young children

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Children’s Grief

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. The death of ______ is considered the most difficult loss a person can experience.

A. your child

B. your spouse/partner

C. your sibling

D. your parent

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Specific Losses

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Grieving people cannot experience physical symptoms from grief.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. High rates of depression, insomnia, suicide, and anorexia may exist in conjunction with consumption of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco as a result of bereavement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. People in industrialized countries do not view dying and bereavement as normal life span experiences.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Three of Rando’s “Six R’s” processes are reinventing, reimagining, and reintegrating.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. One of the issues with a systems theory perspective on grief is that it pathologizes the stages of grief.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Death following a protracted illness is the most difficult type of loss because of the process that the individual and family experience.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Characteristics of the Loss

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Widowers experience greater depression and health consequences than widows.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Factors of Diversity

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Children grieve in the same way as adults.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Children’s Grief

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Death is generally recognized as the most stressful life event families face.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Clinically, yearning following the death of a loved one usually precedes the onset of major depression disorder.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Identify four major characteristics of today’s world that impact family experiences with dying and grief. Discuss the specific impact they have on individual family members and families.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Define post-traumatic growth. Identify three domains in which it can be identified, and give an example of each.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Etiology of “Invisible Death” and Its Consequences

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Compare and contrast the experiences of families after the death of a child, sibling, parent, and spouse/life partner.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Specific Losses

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Describe the premise of family systems theories, and explain how they apply to the grieving process.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Compare and contrast Rando’s (1993) “Six R’s” model of grieving with the dual process model of coping.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Grieving

Difficulty Level: Medium