The nurse is working with a group of chronically ill school-aged children and their caregivers. Which strategy would be most effective in helping the children reach their self-care treatment goals?

Choice A reason: Socializing with healthy peers may motivate but doesn’t directly teach self-care skills for chronic illness. A contract with rewards engages the child actively, making this less focused and incorrect compared to a structured strategy ensuring school-aged children achieve treatment goals effectively.

Choice B reason: Co-writing a contract with rewards engages the child in setting and achieving self-care goals, fostering responsibility and motivation. This aligns with pediatric chronic illness management, making it the most effective strategy to help school-aged children master treatment goals with caregiver involvement.

Choice C reason: Reinforcing the importance of goals educates but lacks active engagement compared to a reward-based contract. Contracts promote accountability, making this less effective and incorrect for directly helping chronically ill children achieve self-care treatment goals in a structured, motivating way.

Choice D reason: A sticker chart tracks progress but is less collaborative than a contract, which involves the child in goal-setting. Contracts better foster ownership, making this less engaging and incorrect compared to the co-written contract strategy for achieving self-care goals in school-aged children.

Choice A reason: Kwashiorkor primarily affects young children, not adolescents, due to protein deficiency during critical growth periods. Increasing protein intake is the key treatment, making this inaccurate, as it misidentifies the age group most impacted by this nutritional disorder in the in-service discussion.

Choice B reason: Treating Kwashiorkor is complex, requiring gradual protein reintroduction and management of complications, not a simple fix. Increasing protein is central, but the process is intricate, making this incorrect compared to the accurate focus on protein supplementation for recovery in affected children.

Choice C reason: Kwashiorkor results from severe protein deficiency, and increasing protein intake is critical for treatment, restoring growth and tissue repair. This aligns with pediatric nutritional deficiency management, making it the most accurate statement about addressing Kwashiorkor in children during the in-service program.

Choice D reason: Kwashiorkor is caused by protein deficiency, not vitamin D deficiency, which is linked to rickets. Protein supplementation is the primary intervention, making this incorrect, as it misattributes the nutritional cause of Kwashiorkor to a vitamin deficiency in the context of the discussion.