Practitioner Self-Care & Resilience Flashcards
7 cards from real ACC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Practitioner Self-Care & Resilience flashcards as text
A chaplain notices they have been dreaming about patients' traumatic stories and feeling emotionally numb at home. This pattern most likely indicates:
Answer: Secondary traumatic stress
Secondary traumatic stress (STS) involves symptoms like intrusive dreams and emotional numbing caused by indirect exposure to others' trauma.
Which self-care practice is most strongly associated with building long-term resilience in chaplains?
Answer: Maintaining consistent spiritual or reflective practices
Regular spiritual or reflective practices build the internal resources chaplains need to sustain meaningful work over time.
When a chaplain's personal grief is triggered by a patient's loss, the most appropriate immediate response is to:
Answer: Acknowledge the feeling internally and remain present for the patient
Acknowledging internal reactions without acting them out allows the chaplain to stay therapeutically present while maintaining professional boundaries.
In the Maslach Burnout Inventory framework, which triad of dimensions is assessed?
Answer: Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment
The MBI measures emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of personal accomplishment as the three core burnout dimensions.
A new chaplain feels guilty for taking a vacation while colleagues are short-staffed. The healthiest reframe of this situation is:
Answer: Recognize that personal renewal sustains long-term capacity to serve others
Sustainable chaplaincy requires regular renewal; reframing rest as a professional responsibility rather than selfishness supports long-term service.
Which boundary issue poses a particular self-care risk for chaplains who frequently work with dying patients?
Answer: Accumulation of unprocessed grief from multiple patient deaths
Repeated unprocessed grief can accumulate into what is called 'bereavement overload,' impairing a chaplain's emotional availability and resilience.
Debriefing after a critical incident is most effective when it occurs:
Answer: Within 24–72 hours of the critical incident
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) protocols generally recommend structured debriefing within 24–72 hours while memories are accessible but shock has subsided.