An older adult client who experienced a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) has difficulty with visual perception and eats only half of the food on the meal tray. The client's family expresses concern about the client's nutritional status. How should the nurse respond to the family's concern?

A. Demonstrate the use of visual scanning during meals to the client and family: Visual scanning helps clients with perceptual deficits from CVA compensate for neglect of one side of their visual field. Teaching this strategy empowers both the client and family to promote independence and improve nutritional intake during meals. B. Suggest that the family bring foods from home that the client enjoys eating: While familiar foods may encourage eating, the problem is not appetite but visual perception. Bringing food from home does not address the underlying deficit causing incomplete meal consumption. C. Explain that weight loss will be reversed after the acute phase of the stroke has ended: Weight loss may not automatically improve, as visual perception deficits can persist long after the acute phase. False reassurance overlooks the real need for compensatory strategies. D. Encourage the family to offer to feed the client when she does not eat her entire meal: Feeding the client when unnecessary reduces independence and may create frustration. The priority is to teach adaptive techniques that promote self-feeding.