Which one of the following goals of therapeutic communication would the nurse strive to attain first quizlet?

The nurse uses a variety of therapeutic communication skills when working with

patients. Which of the following is a therapeutic goal that can be accomplished through

the use of therapeutic communication skills?

Inform the patient of priority problems

Assess the patient's perception of a problem

Assist the patient to control emotions

Provide the patient with a plan of action

Therapeutic communication can help nurses to accomplish many goals including

identifying the most important concern to the client at that moment, assessing the

client's perception of the problem, facilitating the client's expression of emotions, and

guiding the client toward identifying a plan of action.

Which one of the following goals of therapeutic communication would the nurse strive

to attain first?

Facilitate the client's expression of emotions.

Establish a therapeutic nurseñclient relationship.

Teach the client and family necessary self-care skills.

Implement interventions designed to address the client's needs.

Establishing a therapeutic relationship is one of the most important responsibilities of

the nurse when working with clients.

Which of the following statements is true of empathy? Select all that apply.

It is the ability to place oneself into the experience of another for a moment in

time.

It involves interjecting the nurse's personal experiences and interpretations of the

situation.

It is developed by gathering information from the client.

It results in negative therapeutic outcomes.

The client must learn to develop empathy for the nurse.

Empathy is the ability to place oneself into the experience of another for a moment in

time. Nurses develop empathy by gathering as much information about an issue as

possible directly from the client to avoid interjecting their personal experiences and

interpretations of the situation. It does not result in negative therapeutic outcomes. The

nurse must develop empathy with the client.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. While you might understand what psychology is, many people are not quite so sure about what psychology does. What purpose does psychology serve? What are its goals?

Let's take a closer look at the major goals of psychology, what psychologists strive to accomplish, and how psychology is used to solve real-world problems.

Describe

One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. Through describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we are better able to understand it and gain a better perspective on what is considered normal and abnormal.

Researchers might start by observing human behavior and then describing a problem. By understanding what is happening, psychologists can then work on learning more about why the behavior happens and even how to change it.

Imagine that researchers want to learn more about consumer behavior. They might use market research surveys, direct observation, and other data collection methods to gather information on what people are doing when they shop. This gives researchers greater insight into what is really happening in a particular population.

Explain

As you might imagine, in addition to merely describing it, psychologists are also interested in explaining behavior. Why do people do the things they do? What factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health problems?

Throughout psychology's history, many theories have emerged to help explain various aspects of human behavior. A few examples of such approaches including classical conditioning and attachment theories.

Some theories focus on just a small aspect of human behavior (known as mini-theories) while others serve as all-encompassing theories designed to explain all of human psychology (known as grand theories).

In the previous example, researchers collected data to understand what consumers are purchasing. Psychologists would then conduct research to understand why consumers purchase certain items. certain things are happening. They might ask questions about why people purchase certain items or what factors motivate them to make certain purchases.

Predict

Not surprisingly, another primary goal of psychology is to make predictions about how we think and act. Once we understand more about what happens and why it happens, we can use that information to make predictions about when, why, and how it might happen again in the future.

Successfully predicting behavior is also one of the best ways to know if we understand the underlying causes of our actions.

Prediction also allows psychologists to make guesses about human behavior without necessarily understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomena.

For example, if researchers notice that scores on a particular aptitude test predict high school dropout rates, they can use that information to estimate how many students might drop out of school each year.

In the previous example looking at consumer behavior, psychologists would use the information they collected to try to predict what consumers will purchase next. Businesses and marketers often employ consumer psychologists to make such predictions so that they can create products that will appeal to buyers.

Change

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, psychology strives to change, influence, or control behavior to make constructive and lasting changes in people's lives.

In our previous example, researchers might take what they know about the link between scores on an aptitude test and dropout rates and use the information to develop programs designed to help students stay in school.

Marketers and businesses often use the understanding gained from psychological research to try to influence and persuade buyers to behave in certain ways. For example, they might design advertising campaigns designed to make a message appeal to a target audience. By tailoring their messaging to specifically appeal to a certain type of buyer, those individuals are often more likely to respond.

A Word From Verywell

So as you have learned, the four primary goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and change behavior. In many ways, these objectives are similar to the kinds of things you probably do every day as you interact with others.

When dealing with children, for example, you might ask questions like:

• "What are they doing?" (describing)
• "Why are they doing that?" (explaining)
• "What would happen if I responded in this way?" (predicting)
• "What can I do to get them to stop doing that?" (changing)

Psychologists ask many of the same types of questions, but they utilize the scientific method to rigorously test and systematically understand both human and animal behavior.

By Kendra Cherry
Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology.

Thanks for your feedback!

Which goal of therapeutic communication would the nurse strive to attain first?

What is the nurse's main goal in using therapeutic communication?

Which type of therapeutic communication is most important for the nurse to use when caring for a patient with major depression?

Which is the most important focus of therapeutic communication?