A nurse assesses a confused older adult. The nurse experiences sadness and reflects. This patient is like one of my grandparents... so helpless." Which response is the nurse demonstrating?

A. This occurs when the nurse projects personal feelings about someone from their own life onto the patient (e.g., comparing the patient to a grandparent and feeling sadness). B. This refers to severe emotional outbursts in cognitively impaired patients, not nurse behavior. C. This would involve the nurse using defense mechanisms to protect themselves from anxiety, not relating to the patient as a grandparent. D. Transference is when the patient projects feelings onto the nurse, not the other way around.