The nurse recognizes that anticipatory grieving can be most beneficial to a patient or family for which of the following reasons?

Question

a. It can be done in private.
b. It can be discussed with others.
c. It can promote separation of the ill patient from the family.
d. It allows time to say goodbye and complete life affairs before death.

Answer 1

D

Feedback
A It is not most beneficial for grieving to take place only in private. It is important for grief to be acknowledged by others, and for those grieving to be able to receive the support of others in the grieving process.
B Anticipatory grieving can be discussed with others in most circumstances. However, anticipatory grief may be disenfranchised grief as well, meaning it cannot always be openly acknowledged, socially sanctioned, or publicly shared, such as grief over the death of a partner with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The discussion of grief with others can also take place with normal grief, after the loss has occurred. Anticipatory grieving is unique from normal grieving in that it allows time for "letting go" before the death occurs.
C Anticipatory grief is the process of disengaging or "letting go" that occurs before an actual loss or death has occurred. The benefit is not the separation of the ill patient from the family as much as it is the process of being able to say goodbye, to put life affairs in order, and as a result, this type of grieving can help a patient or family to progress to a higher emotional state.
D The benefit of anticipatory grief is that it allows time for "letting go"; the dying patient and his or her loved ones are able to say goodbye and complete life affairs before the actual death or loss occurs.