Chapter 02: Cultural Competence and Health Equity in Nursing Care
Lewis: Medical-Surgical Nursing in Canada,
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following terms refer to characteristics of a group whose members share a
common social, cultural, linguistic, or religious heritage?
a. Diversity
b. Ethnicity
c. Ethnocentrism
d. Cultural imposition
ANS: B
Ethnicity is the common social, cultural, linguistic, or religious heritage of a group of people.
Diversity is a presence of persons with differences from the majority or dominant group that is
assumed to be the norm. Ethnocentrism is a tendency of individuals to believe that their way
of viewing and responding to the world is the most correct, natural, and superior one. Cultural
imposition is imposition of one person’s own cultural beliefs and practices, intentionally or
unintentionally, on another person or group of people.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
2. The nurse is caring for Indigenous clients in a community clinic setting. Which of the
following would the nurse include when developing strategies to decrease health care
disparities?
NURSINGTB.COM
a. Improve public transportation.
b. Obtain low-cost medications.
c. Update equipment and supplies for the clinic.
d. Educate staff about Indigenous health beliefs.
ANS: D
Health care disparities are due to stereotyping, biases, and prejudice of health care providers;
the nurse can decrease these through staff education. The other strategies also may be
addressed by the nurse but will not impact health disparities.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Health Promotion and Maintenance
3. A family member of an elderly Hispanic client admitted to the hospital tells the nurse that the
client has traditional beliefs about health and illness. Which of the following actions is most
appropriate for the nurse in this situation?
a. Avoid asking any questions unless the client initiates conversation.
b. Ask the client whether it is important that cultural healers are contacted.
c. Explain the usual hospital routines for meal times, care, and family visits.
d. Obtain further information about the client’s cultural beliefs from the daughter.
ANS: B
, Because the client has traditional health care beliefs, it is appropriate for the nurse to ask
whether the client would like a visit from a cultural healer. Nurses ask key questions with
regard to language, diet, religion, and acculturation and eliciting the client’s explanatory
model of health and illness. There is no cultural reason for the nurse to avoid asking the client
questions, and questions may be necessary to obtain necessary health information. The client
(rather than the daughter) should be consulted about personal cultural beliefs. The hospital
routines for meals, care, and visits should be adapted to the client’s preferences rather than
expecting the client to adapt to the hospital schedule.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
4. When caring for an Indigenous client, which of the following actions is the best initial
approach in relation to eye contact for the nurse to take?
a. Avoid all eye contact with the client.
b. Observe the client’s use of eye contact.
c. Look directly at the client when interacting.
d. Ask the family about the client’s cultural beliefs.
ANS: B
Eye contact varies greatly among and within cultures so the nurse’s initial action is to assess
the client’s use of eye contact. Although nurses are often taught to maintain direct eye contact,
clients who are Asian, Arab, or Indigenous may avoid direct eye contact and consider direct
eye contact disrespectful or aggressive. Looking directly at the client or avoiding eye contact
may be appropriate, depending on the client’s individual cultural beliefs. The nurse should
assess the client, rather than asking family members about the client’s beliefs.
NURSINGTOP:
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TB.C OM Process: Implementation
Nursing
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
5. A graduate nurse is assessing a newly admitted non–English-speaking Chinese client who
complains of severe headaches. Which of the following actions by the graduate nurse would
cause the charge nurse to intervene during this assessment interview?
a. Sit down at the bedside.
b. Palpate the client’s scalp.
c. Call for a medical interpreter.
d. Avoid eye contact with the client.
ANS: B
Many people of Asian ethnicity believe that touching a person’s head is disrespectful; the
nurse should always ask permission before touching any client’s head. The other actions are
appropriate.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
6. The nurse is caring for a client who speaks a language different from the nurse’s language and
there is no interpreter available. Which of the following actions is the most appropriate for the
nurse to implement?
a. Use specific medical terms in the Latin form.
b. Talk loudly and slowly so that each word is clearly heard.
Lewis: Medical-Surgical Nursing in Canada,
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following terms refer to characteristics of a group whose members share a
common social, cultural, linguistic, or religious heritage?
a. Diversity
b. Ethnicity
c. Ethnocentrism
d. Cultural imposition
ANS: B
Ethnicity is the common social, cultural, linguistic, or religious heritage of a group of people.
Diversity is a presence of persons with differences from the majority or dominant group that is
assumed to be the norm. Ethnocentrism is a tendency of individuals to believe that their way
of viewing and responding to the world is the most correct, natural, and superior one. Cultural
imposition is imposition of one person’s own cultural beliefs and practices, intentionally or
unintentionally, on another person or group of people.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
2. The nurse is caring for Indigenous clients in a community clinic setting. Which of the
following would the nurse include when developing strategies to decrease health care
disparities?
NURSINGTB.COM
a. Improve public transportation.
b. Obtain low-cost medications.
c. Update equipment and supplies for the clinic.
d. Educate staff about Indigenous health beliefs.
ANS: D
Health care disparities are due to stereotyping, biases, and prejudice of health care providers;
the nurse can decrease these through staff education. The other strategies also may be
addressed by the nurse but will not impact health disparities.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Health Promotion and Maintenance
3. A family member of an elderly Hispanic client admitted to the hospital tells the nurse that the
client has traditional beliefs about health and illness. Which of the following actions is most
appropriate for the nurse in this situation?
a. Avoid asking any questions unless the client initiates conversation.
b. Ask the client whether it is important that cultural healers are contacted.
c. Explain the usual hospital routines for meal times, care, and family visits.
d. Obtain further information about the client’s cultural beliefs from the daughter.
ANS: B
, Because the client has traditional health care beliefs, it is appropriate for the nurse to ask
whether the client would like a visit from a cultural healer. Nurses ask key questions with
regard to language, diet, religion, and acculturation and eliciting the client’s explanatory
model of health and illness. There is no cultural reason for the nurse to avoid asking the client
questions, and questions may be necessary to obtain necessary health information. The client
(rather than the daughter) should be consulted about personal cultural beliefs. The hospital
routines for meals, care, and visits should be adapted to the client’s preferences rather than
expecting the client to adapt to the hospital schedule.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
4. When caring for an Indigenous client, which of the following actions is the best initial
approach in relation to eye contact for the nurse to take?
a. Avoid all eye contact with the client.
b. Observe the client’s use of eye contact.
c. Look directly at the client when interacting.
d. Ask the family about the client’s cultural beliefs.
ANS: B
Eye contact varies greatly among and within cultures so the nurse’s initial action is to assess
the client’s use of eye contact. Although nurses are often taught to maintain direct eye contact,
clients who are Asian, Arab, or Indigenous may avoid direct eye contact and consider direct
eye contact disrespectful or aggressive. Looking directly at the client or avoiding eye contact
may be appropriate, depending on the client’s individual cultural beliefs. The nurse should
assess the client, rather than asking family members about the client’s beliefs.
NURSINGTOP:
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TB.C OM Process: Implementation
Nursing
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
5. A graduate nurse is assessing a newly admitted non–English-speaking Chinese client who
complains of severe headaches. Which of the following actions by the graduate nurse would
cause the charge nurse to intervene during this assessment interview?
a. Sit down at the bedside.
b. Palpate the client’s scalp.
c. Call for a medical interpreter.
d. Avoid eye contact with the client.
ANS: B
Many people of Asian ethnicity believe that touching a person’s head is disrespectful; the
nurse should always ask permission before touching any client’s head. The other actions are
appropriate.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application TOP: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX: Psychosocial Integrity
6. The nurse is caring for a client who speaks a language different from the nurse’s language and
there is no interpreter available. Which of the following actions is the most appropriate for the
nurse to implement?
a. Use specific medical terms in the Latin form.
b. Talk loudly and slowly so that each word is clearly heard.
