A nursing intervention to assist the client with a nursing diagnosis of sleep pattern disturbance related to the loss of spouse and fear of nightmares should be to:

Question

1. Administer sleeping medication per order
2. Refer the client to a psychologist or psychotherapist
3. Have the client complete a detailed sleep pattern assessment
4. Sit with the client while encouraging verbalization of feelings

Answer 1

ANS: 4
A nursing intervention to facilitate grief work is to offer the client encouragement to explore and verbalize feelings of grief. This encouragement refocuses the client on current needs and mini-mizes dysfunctional adaptation behaviors (e.g., not sleeping) by facilitating resolution of grief through problem-solving skills. Administering sleeping medication may help the client get to sleep but does not resolve the issue of grief. Without addressing the grief, the client may develop another dysfunctional adaptation behavior. It is not necessary to refer the client to a psychologist or psychotherapist at this time. The client needs to be encouraged to verbalize his or her feelings. Having the client complete a detailed sleep pattern assessment may help the nurse identify the number of hours of sleep the client is obtaining, but it does not address the issue causing the sleep disturbance, which is grief from the loss of the spouse.