Select the best question for the nurse to ask to help her assess a family's ability to cope?

Choice A reason: Asking about strengths is a helpful part of a family assessment, but it is relatively abstract. While it identifies resources, it does not provide specific behavioral evidence of how the family utilizes those resources to manage stress or solve problems during times of crisis or dysfunction. Choice B reason: This question focuses on future problem-solving and opinions rather than assessing past coping performance. While useful for planning interventions, it does not allow the nurse to evaluate the family's actual history of resilience or the specific mechanisms they have previously employed to manage life stressors. Choice C reason: This is a closed-ended question that encourages a simple "yes" or "no" response. Such questions are generally non-therapeutic in a psychiatric assessment because they do not elicit the descriptive, detailed information necessary for the nurse to analyze the family's functional or dysfunctional coping patterns. Choice D reason: This open-ended request encourages the family to provide a narrative of their past resilience. By describing a specific successful instance of problem-solving, the nurse can identify concrete coping strategies, communication patterns, and the family's ability to mobilize resources, providing a clearer picture of their functional capacity.