Community Health NR442 exam 1 SIMPLIFIED QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS 2025-2026
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between the environment and
health?
a. Because of the large number of variables involved, the relationship between environment and
health cannot be researched.
b. Because the environment has such long-term effects on health, research findings are not yet
available.
c. Research shows that a healthy environment has limited impact on one's health.
d. Research shows that a healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy
living. -(ANSWER) ANS: D
A healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living. Accumulated
evidence shows that the environmental changes of the past few decades have profoundly
influenced the status of public health. Globally, environmental factors contribute to nearly 25%
of all deaths and increase disease burden (World Health Organization, 2006). The safety, beauty,
and life-sustaining capacity of the physical environment are unquestionably of global
consequence.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
When using an environmental perspective, which of the following would be the most important
question for a nurse to ask when assessing potential health problems?
a. "Can you tell me how you have been feeling?"
b. "Can you tell me what you do at work?"
c. "What brings you here today?"
d. "What problems have you been having?" -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Because 25% of worldwide preventable illnesses are caused by poor environmental quality,
nurses need to ask critical questions about their clients' work and home environments to help
discern the contributions of specific hazards to their health. This can be accomplished by an
environmental health history. The other responses do not address a question that would be
addressed during an environmental health history.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
How does critical theory differ from other nursing theories such as the health belief model or
Orem's self-care deficit theory?
a. Critical theory can be used by professionals other than nurses.
b. Critical theory focuses on oppression and facilitates group action.
c. Critical theory is not directly related to health promotion.
d. Critical theory confronts changing an individual's beliefs. -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Critical theory is an approach that raises questions about oppressive situations, involves
community members in the definition and solution of problems, and facilitates group
interventions. The other two theories focus more on individual beliefs and choice of action.
Page | 1
,DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Which of the following statements best describe why environmental health is more challenging
than other variables related to an individual's health?
a. Environmental health affects susceptible individuals more than groups.
b. Environmental health demands that individuals be willing to change their beliefs.
c. Environmental health is dependent on social neighborhoods, as well as geography.
d. Environmental health requires social, economic, and political changes to improve. -
(ANSWER) ANS: D
Intervening to improve environmental conditions requires basic social, economic, and political
changes. Aggregates must work together to create such change. The other responses do not
address the multiple dimensions that must be impacted in order to impact change within
environmental health.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Which of the following nursing actions would be the most helpful to the community's long-term
health?
a. Careful assessment, diagnosis, planning, and giving care to individual patients and their
families
b. Dialogue with community members concerning what health issues are of importance in that
community
c. Focusing on family health through school-based neighborhood clinics
d. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative
lobbying, and mass demonstrations -(ANSWER) ANS: D
The ultimate goal is liberating people from health-damaging environmental conditions by using
collective actions. Mechanisms have included strategic organization, litigation, public hearing
testimony, letter-writing campaigns, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations. Helping the
community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and
mass demonstrations shows how collective action can be applied. The other interventions do not
demonstrate the use of collective action.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 251
Which of the following best explains why it is difficult to get others interested in environmental
health?
a. Environmental problems just are not interesting or dramatic.
b. It's difficult to get media interested.
c. People respond more to an acute crisis than chronic environmental problems.
d. People respond more to an individual asking for help than a community asking for help. -
(ANSWER) ANS: C
People respond to acute crises with dramatic media coverage (such as hurricanes or earthquakes),
but ongoing consistent pressure is needed to ensure day-to-day environmental integrity. Chronic
environmental problems are rarely addressed effectively.
Page | 2
,DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: pp. 251-252
What would be an appropriate term for intoxicated drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding,
noise, and mechanization?
a. Risks of living style
b. Risks in the built environment
c. Personal health risks
d. Modern day health risks -(ANSWER) ANS: B
The built environment is the connection between people, communities, and their surrounding
environments that affect health habits and behaviors, interpersonal relationships, cultural values,
and customs. Most people live within areas that require almost daily contact with potential health
risks and threats, such as intoxicated or impaired drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding,
noise exposure, unabated traffic, and the stress of increased mechanization.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
What is meant by discriminatory land use?
a. Backlash against companies that do not protect the environment
b. Daily insults to people who live in a particular community
c. Locating industrial hazards in low-income communities
d. Political recognition that companies support a safe environment -(ANSWER) ANS: C
Discriminatory land use ensures that many impoverished and marginalized groups, especially
people of color, live in close proximity to industrial contamination. Members of these
communities are at risk for illness and injury. The other responses do not correctly define
discriminatory land use.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
It has been learned that a particular industry has vastly polluted the surrounding neighborhood.
Which of the following actions would most likely be taken by those living in the neighborhood?
a. Band together to shut the industry down
b. Nothing, because of family ties and cost of relocation
c. Immediately move to a different neighborhood
d. Seek legal reimbursement for the hazard exposure -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Residents may be unwilling to disrupt family ties and cultural roots to start over elsewhere, or
they may be unable to afford to move. Residents are revictimized by the difficulty in obtaining
compensation. Attempting to shut the industry down, seeking reimbursement for the hazard
exposure, and immediately moving to a different neighborhood are all costly interventions and in
most cases cannot be easily accomplished by most residents.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply (Application) REF: p. 254
Which of the following statements supports why it is believed that the risks of various
employment positions are inaccurate?
a. Companies refuse to share employee injury information.
b. Because factories reimburse employees directly, the injury is not reported.
Page | 3
, c. Individuals assume it is a personal problem, not an employment issue.
d. Most employment positions do not have known risks. -(ANSWER) ANS: C
Statistics do not reflect unreported health problems. Collective problems related to employment
or occupation are often perceived as individualized injuries, and no one "connects the dots."
Companies are willing to share employee injury information and recognize the risks of
employment, but the information may be inaccurate because of the perception of individualized
injuries.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 254 | p. 256
Why are health care providers concerned over such social issues as mass transit, clean power,
and the farming industry?
a. Because air pollutants are contributors to asthma and other health problems.
b. Clean power would reduce the pollution that results from burning of high-sulfur coal.
c. Manure runoff from industrial farming is polluting water and killing fish throughout the
United States.
d. Mass transit would remove the problem of so many Americans being killed or injured by
drunken or impaired drivers. -(ANSWER) ANS: A
All three (mass transit, clean power, and industry) emit air pollutants, which result in smog, the
most common outdoor air pollutant in the United States. Atmospheric pollutants cause or
contribute to asthma, allergic reactions, bronchitis, lung cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and
death. They also harm animals and plants. The most inclusive answer refers to air pollutants,
although certainly, the others are true in society today.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: pp. 256-257
Which of the following statements best describes what has happened to air quality since the
United States outlawed the use of chlorofluorocarbons, halons, and carbon tetrachloride?
a. Air quality immediately improved.
b. Air quality is slowly improving.
c. Little change occurred because these chemicals remain in the atmosphere.
d. Nothing has happened because other countries worldwide continue to extensively use these
products. -(ANSWER) ANS: C
These chemicals, which were in widespread use, remain in the atmosphere. Thus, air quality has
not improved. This is a global concern and is being addressed worldwide by the World Health
Organization.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 257
Which of the following is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers?
a. Secondhand smoke
b. Living near a nuclear power plant
c. Exposure to pesticides
d. Radon gas -(ANSWER) ANS: D
Radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers in the United States. It is
estimated that radon causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year.
Page | 4
AND ANSWERS 2025-2026
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between the environment and
health?
a. Because of the large number of variables involved, the relationship between environment and
health cannot be researched.
b. Because the environment has such long-term effects on health, research findings are not yet
available.
c. Research shows that a healthy environment has limited impact on one's health.
d. Research shows that a healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy
living. -(ANSWER) ANS: D
A healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living. Accumulated
evidence shows that the environmental changes of the past few decades have profoundly
influenced the status of public health. Globally, environmental factors contribute to nearly 25%
of all deaths and increase disease burden (World Health Organization, 2006). The safety, beauty,
and life-sustaining capacity of the physical environment are unquestionably of global
consequence.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
When using an environmental perspective, which of the following would be the most important
question for a nurse to ask when assessing potential health problems?
a. "Can you tell me how you have been feeling?"
b. "Can you tell me what you do at work?"
c. "What brings you here today?"
d. "What problems have you been having?" -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Because 25% of worldwide preventable illnesses are caused by poor environmental quality,
nurses need to ask critical questions about their clients' work and home environments to help
discern the contributions of specific hazards to their health. This can be accomplished by an
environmental health history. The other responses do not address a question that would be
addressed during an environmental health history.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
How does critical theory differ from other nursing theories such as the health belief model or
Orem's self-care deficit theory?
a. Critical theory can be used by professionals other than nurses.
b. Critical theory focuses on oppression and facilitates group action.
c. Critical theory is not directly related to health promotion.
d. Critical theory confronts changing an individual's beliefs. -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Critical theory is an approach that raises questions about oppressive situations, involves
community members in the definition and solution of problems, and facilitates group
interventions. The other two theories focus more on individual beliefs and choice of action.
Page | 1
,DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Which of the following statements best describe why environmental health is more challenging
than other variables related to an individual's health?
a. Environmental health affects susceptible individuals more than groups.
b. Environmental health demands that individuals be willing to change their beliefs.
c. Environmental health is dependent on social neighborhoods, as well as geography.
d. Environmental health requires social, economic, and political changes to improve. -
(ANSWER) ANS: D
Intervening to improve environmental conditions requires basic social, economic, and political
changes. Aggregates must work together to create such change. The other responses do not
address the multiple dimensions that must be impacted in order to impact change within
environmental health.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 250
Which of the following nursing actions would be the most helpful to the community's long-term
health?
a. Careful assessment, diagnosis, planning, and giving care to individual patients and their
families
b. Dialogue with community members concerning what health issues are of importance in that
community
c. Focusing on family health through school-based neighborhood clinics
d. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative
lobbying, and mass demonstrations -(ANSWER) ANS: D
The ultimate goal is liberating people from health-damaging environmental conditions by using
collective actions. Mechanisms have included strategic organization, litigation, public hearing
testimony, letter-writing campaigns, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations. Helping the
community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and
mass demonstrations shows how collective action can be applied. The other interventions do not
demonstrate the use of collective action.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 251
Which of the following best explains why it is difficult to get others interested in environmental
health?
a. Environmental problems just are not interesting or dramatic.
b. It's difficult to get media interested.
c. People respond more to an acute crisis than chronic environmental problems.
d. People respond more to an individual asking for help than a community asking for help. -
(ANSWER) ANS: C
People respond to acute crises with dramatic media coverage (such as hurricanes or earthquakes),
but ongoing consistent pressure is needed to ensure day-to-day environmental integrity. Chronic
environmental problems are rarely addressed effectively.
Page | 2
,DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: pp. 251-252
What would be an appropriate term for intoxicated drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding,
noise, and mechanization?
a. Risks of living style
b. Risks in the built environment
c. Personal health risks
d. Modern day health risks -(ANSWER) ANS: B
The built environment is the connection between people, communities, and their surrounding
environments that affect health habits and behaviors, interpersonal relationships, cultural values,
and customs. Most people live within areas that require almost daily contact with potential health
risks and threats, such as intoxicated or impaired drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding,
noise exposure, unabated traffic, and the stress of increased mechanization.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
What is meant by discriminatory land use?
a. Backlash against companies that do not protect the environment
b. Daily insults to people who live in a particular community
c. Locating industrial hazards in low-income communities
d. Political recognition that companies support a safe environment -(ANSWER) ANS: C
Discriminatory land use ensures that many impoverished and marginalized groups, especially
people of color, live in close proximity to industrial contamination. Members of these
communities are at risk for illness and injury. The other responses do not correctly define
discriminatory land use.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 253
It has been learned that a particular industry has vastly polluted the surrounding neighborhood.
Which of the following actions would most likely be taken by those living in the neighborhood?
a. Band together to shut the industry down
b. Nothing, because of family ties and cost of relocation
c. Immediately move to a different neighborhood
d. Seek legal reimbursement for the hazard exposure -(ANSWER) ANS: B
Residents may be unwilling to disrupt family ties and cultural roots to start over elsewhere, or
they may be unable to afford to move. Residents are revictimized by the difficulty in obtaining
compensation. Attempting to shut the industry down, seeking reimbursement for the hazard
exposure, and immediately moving to a different neighborhood are all costly interventions and in
most cases cannot be easily accomplished by most residents.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply (Application) REF: p. 254
Which of the following statements supports why it is believed that the risks of various
employment positions are inaccurate?
a. Companies refuse to share employee injury information.
b. Because factories reimburse employees directly, the injury is not reported.
Page | 3
, c. Individuals assume it is a personal problem, not an employment issue.
d. Most employment positions do not have known risks. -(ANSWER) ANS: C
Statistics do not reflect unreported health problems. Collective problems related to employment
or occupation are often perceived as individualized injuries, and no one "connects the dots."
Companies are willing to share employee injury information and recognize the risks of
employment, but the information may be inaccurate because of the perception of individualized
injuries.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 254 | p. 256
Why are health care providers concerned over such social issues as mass transit, clean power,
and the farming industry?
a. Because air pollutants are contributors to asthma and other health problems.
b. Clean power would reduce the pollution that results from burning of high-sulfur coal.
c. Manure runoff from industrial farming is polluting water and killing fish throughout the
United States.
d. Mass transit would remove the problem of so many Americans being killed or injured by
drunken or impaired drivers. -(ANSWER) ANS: A
All three (mass transit, clean power, and industry) emit air pollutants, which result in smog, the
most common outdoor air pollutant in the United States. Atmospheric pollutants cause or
contribute to asthma, allergic reactions, bronchitis, lung cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and
death. They also harm animals and plants. The most inclusive answer refers to air pollutants,
although certainly, the others are true in society today.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: pp. 256-257
Which of the following statements best describes what has happened to air quality since the
United States outlawed the use of chlorofluorocarbons, halons, and carbon tetrachloride?
a. Air quality immediately improved.
b. Air quality is slowly improving.
c. Little change occurred because these chemicals remain in the atmosphere.
d. Nothing has happened because other countries worldwide continue to extensively use these
products. -(ANSWER) ANS: C
These chemicals, which were in widespread use, remain in the atmosphere. Thus, air quality has
not improved. This is a global concern and is being addressed worldwide by the World Health
Organization.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand (Comprehension) REF: p. 257
Which of the following is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers?
a. Secondhand smoke
b. Living near a nuclear power plant
c. Exposure to pesticides
d. Radon gas -(ANSWER) ANS: D
Radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers in the United States. It is
estimated that radon causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year.
Page | 4
