PMHNP Comprehensive Exam
2026 Exam Questions and
Correct Answers | New Update
Stages of Change (Transtheoretical Model) - ANSWER
✔✔(Prochaska & DiClemente)
● Precontemplation—little to no awareness of the problem or intent to
change
● Contemplation—thinking about making a change in the next 6 months,
weigh pros and cons
● Preparation—prepare to make change within the next month, start to
make small changes
● Action—enacted the change for 1 day-6 months
,● Maintenance—maintained behavior/change for 6 months or longer
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - ANSWER ✔✔● Physiological (food,
water, shelter, warmth)
● Safety (security, stability, freedom from fear)
● Belonging/love (friends, family, spouse, lover)
● Self-esteem (achievement, mastery, recognition, respect)
● Self-actualization (pursue, inner talent, creativity, fulfillment)
Benner's Model - ANSWER ✔✔● Novice—unconscious
incompetence, no experience, governed by rules and regulations
● Advanced beginner—able to analyze and deliberately act
● Competency/proficiency—2-5 yrs experience, able to synthesize
info/coordinate
● Expert—flexible, intuitive, efficient
MMSE Scoring - ANSWER ✔✔○ 23-30 normal
○ 19-23 borderline
○ <19 impaired
MMSE components - ANSWER ✔✔● Orientation
● Registration (repeat 3 words)
,● Attention and Calculation (count backwards from 100 by 7, spell words
backward)
● Recall (repeat the same 3 words from immediate recall)
● Language (name an object, repeat a phrase, read a sentence, write a
sentence, copy intersecting pentagons)
Levels of Prevention - ANSWER ✔✔· Primary prevention—methods
to avoid occurrence of disease (most population-based health promotion
efforts)
· Secondary prevention—methods to diagnose and treat existent
disease in early stages before it causes significant morbidity
· Tertiary prevention—methods to reduce negative impact of existent
disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related
complications
· Quaternary prevention—methods to mitigate or avoid results of
unnecessary or excessive interventions in the health system
frontal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔A region of the cerebral cortex that has
specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory,
and judgement
-prefrontal, motor strip, EPS, basal ganglia
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2026. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, temporal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔hearing, language (Wernicke's),
memory, emotion
parietal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔sensory processing and input
components of the limbic system - ANSWER ✔✔interpreting
significance of sensory input; hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus,
cingulate gyrus, thalamus
anterior cingulate cortex - ANSWER ✔✔integrating complex external
information; empathy, emotion processing
posterior cingulate cortex - ANSWER ✔✔participates in memory and
visual processing; day dreaming, values, relevance to self
hypothalamus & what NTs does it balance - ANSWER
✔✔homeostasis (food, water, temperature), controls pituitary release,
balance of DA and 5HT
posterior pituitary - ANSWER ✔✔ADH and oxytocin
thalamus - ANSWER ✔✔relay station for incoming sensory
information, allowing for processing and interpretation according to other
structures' input
2026 Exam Questions and
Correct Answers | New Update
Stages of Change (Transtheoretical Model) - ANSWER
✔✔(Prochaska & DiClemente)
● Precontemplation—little to no awareness of the problem or intent to
change
● Contemplation—thinking about making a change in the next 6 months,
weigh pros and cons
● Preparation—prepare to make change within the next month, start to
make small changes
● Action—enacted the change for 1 day-6 months
,● Maintenance—maintained behavior/change for 6 months or longer
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - ANSWER ✔✔● Physiological (food,
water, shelter, warmth)
● Safety (security, stability, freedom from fear)
● Belonging/love (friends, family, spouse, lover)
● Self-esteem (achievement, mastery, recognition, respect)
● Self-actualization (pursue, inner talent, creativity, fulfillment)
Benner's Model - ANSWER ✔✔● Novice—unconscious
incompetence, no experience, governed by rules and regulations
● Advanced beginner—able to analyze and deliberately act
● Competency/proficiency—2-5 yrs experience, able to synthesize
info/coordinate
● Expert—flexible, intuitive, efficient
MMSE Scoring - ANSWER ✔✔○ 23-30 normal
○ 19-23 borderline
○ <19 impaired
MMSE components - ANSWER ✔✔● Orientation
● Registration (repeat 3 words)
,● Attention and Calculation (count backwards from 100 by 7, spell words
backward)
● Recall (repeat the same 3 words from immediate recall)
● Language (name an object, repeat a phrase, read a sentence, write a
sentence, copy intersecting pentagons)
Levels of Prevention - ANSWER ✔✔· Primary prevention—methods
to avoid occurrence of disease (most population-based health promotion
efforts)
· Secondary prevention—methods to diagnose and treat existent
disease in early stages before it causes significant morbidity
· Tertiary prevention—methods to reduce negative impact of existent
disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related
complications
· Quaternary prevention—methods to mitigate or avoid results of
unnecessary or excessive interventions in the health system
frontal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔A region of the cerebral cortex that has
specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory,
and judgement
-prefrontal, motor strip, EPS, basal ganglia
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2026. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, temporal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔hearing, language (Wernicke's),
memory, emotion
parietal lobe - ANSWER ✔✔sensory processing and input
components of the limbic system - ANSWER ✔✔interpreting
significance of sensory input; hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus,
cingulate gyrus, thalamus
anterior cingulate cortex - ANSWER ✔✔integrating complex external
information; empathy, emotion processing
posterior cingulate cortex - ANSWER ✔✔participates in memory and
visual processing; day dreaming, values, relevance to self
hypothalamus & what NTs does it balance - ANSWER
✔✔homeostasis (food, water, temperature), controls pituitary release,
balance of DA and 5HT
posterior pituitary - ANSWER ✔✔ADH and oxytocin
thalamus - ANSWER ✔✔relay station for incoming sensory
information, allowing for processing and interpretation according to other
structures' input
