When the older woman who is close to death asks the family to leave after short visits and acts withdrawn in their presence, the family becomes distraught
Which of the following does the nurse include in family teaching to explain the patient's behavior? a. She is preoccupied with her own death.
b. She must have unresolved family issues.
c. She can be experiencing anticipatory grief.
d. Her body prepares for death in this man-ner.
C
Anticipatory grief occurs before the death and can be experienced by the patient or the potential survivors. When the patient who is dying experiences anticipatory grief, the individual detaches from the environment into a state sometimes described as psychological death. The person is no longer involved in day-to-day activities and enacts a premature death.
Preoccupation with death is acute grief, but since the death has not occurred, preoccupa-tion cannot describe this patient. The patient might have unresolved issues with the family, but this behavior is an unusual way to express it. The body prepares for death through the deteriora-tion of organ system functioning; for example, the kidneys stop producing urine, the patient stops drinking and eating, and the extremities become cold, among other functions.
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