During a home care visit, an older adult client states to the nurse, "my wife died 3 years ago." Which client action is a possible indicator that the client is experiencing complicated grief?

Question

A) The client tells the nurse that his wife was an awful cook and that he has eaten better meals since she died.
B) The client shows the nurse his wife's craft room and states that it remains just as she left it before she died.
C) The client has an album of photographs of his wife open on the living room table.
D) The client indicates that he sends his laundry out to be done because he had never figured out how the washer works.

Answer 1

Answer: B

Leaving the deceased wife's craft room and belongings intact for over 3 years is considered outside the normal limits of the grief process for the elderly. Talking about his deceased wife's good and bad points and showing photographs of her are normal responses to grief. Sending out the laundry to be done is a healthy response to a problem that this client identified.