Child Life Grief and Bereavement Flashcards
6 cards from real Child Life Exam practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Child Life Grief and Bereavement flashcards as text
A 4-year-old who has been told about a grandparent's death keeps asking 'When is grandma coming back?' This response MOST likely reflects:
Answer: The developmental inability to understand the permanence of death
Preschool-age children typically cannot grasp the concept of irreversibility—one of the key death concepts that develops with age and cognitive maturity.
Which approach is MOST appropriate when creating a memory-making activity for a family whose infant is dying?
Answer: Offer gentle guidance while following the family's pace and cultural preferences for remembrance
Memory-making should be guided by the family's pace, cultural values, and preferences, with the specialist offering options and support without imposing specific activities.
When supporting a bereaved school-age child, it is MOST important to:
Answer: Provide honest, age-appropriate information and permission to express a full range of emotions
School-age children benefit from honest information that matches their cognitive ability to understand death and need permission to express the full range of grief emotions.
The concept of 'magical thinking' is particularly relevant to bereavement support because young children may:
Answer: Believe their thoughts or actions caused the death
Magical thinking in preoperational children can lead them to believe they caused the death through their thoughts, wishes, or behaviors, resulting in intense guilt.
A child life specialist facilitating a bereavement support group for children notices that one child draws violent images during every session. The MOST appropriate response is to:
Answer: Recognize the artwork as a potential expression of grief-related anger and gently explore its meaning with the child
Violent imagery in a bereaved child's art may represent grief-related anger, attempts to process traumatic aspects of the death, or other important emotions that deserve exploration rather than suppression.
When a child's parent dies, which grief response in an adolescent should prompt IMMEDIATE referral for mental health assessment?
Answer: Expressing suicidal thoughts or engaging in self-harm
Suicidal ideation and self-harm are emergency indicators requiring immediate mental health assessment, regardless of the precipitating event.