Answer:
Affect
Step-by-step explanation:
- The mental status examination is a way of observing and describing the psychology of the patient in a structured manner.
- In the mental status examination, there are several sections under which the client's psychology is assessed - these include appearance, attitude, behavior, mood, and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment.
- Under the affect section, the nonverbal behavior of the client is assessed and the apparent emotion displayed by the client is observed. The affect section characterizes the reactivity, affectiveness, mobility, intensity and the range of reactions shown when exposed to a given situation or asked a certain question.
- When the nurse reports the behavior of the client as having an emotionless tone and a flat facial expression then the nurse is evaluating the client under the affect section of mental status examination.