Test Instructions
Read the article. The test for this NCPD activity can only be taken online at http://www.nursingcenter.com/CE/ANS.
You will need to create (its free!) and login to your personal CE Planner account before taking online tests. Your planner will keep track of all your Professional Development online NCPD activities for you.
There is only one correct answer for each question. A passing score for this test is 7 correct answers. If you pass, you can print your certificate of earned contact hours and access the answer key. If you fail, you have the option of taking the test again at no additional cost.
For questions, contact Lippincott Professional Development: 1-800-787-8985.
* Registration deadline is December 5, 2025.
Payment:
The registration fee for this test is $24.95.
Provider Accreditation
Lippincott Professional Development will award 2.5 contact hours for this nursing continuing professional development activity.
Lippincott Professional Development is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
This activity is also provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP 11749 for 2.5 contact hours. LPD is also an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the District of Columbia, Georgia, West Virginia, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Florida CE Broker #50-1223.
Disclosure Statement
The authors and planners have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
NCPD TEST QUESTIONS
ANS1022
Learning Outcome: Seventy-five percent of participants will demonstrate knowledge of the theory on maternal role attainment (MRA)/becoming a mother (BAM) by achieving a minimum score of 70% on the posttest.
Learning Objectives: After completing this continuing professional development activity, the participant will be able to apply knowledge gained to:
1. Identify features of maternal role attainment (MRA)/becoming a mother (BAM) theory.
2. Analyze MRA/BAM theory according to the methods described by Walker and Avant (2011).
3. Explain the relevance of MRA/BAM theory to nursing practice and theory today.
1. According to Rubin (1977), polarization is one of the 3 aspects of binding- in. What does it involve?
a. the inclusion of the child in a larger social sphere of close relationships
b. the proprioceptive senses of seeing, touching, hearing, and smelling the baby
c. the physical and conceptual separating-out process of the incorporated infant of pregnancy into a separate, external, and constant entity post partpartally.
2. What happens in the Informal Stage of Mercer's (1981) Theoretical Framework for the Maternal Role?
a. The mother progresses from adhering rigidly to rules and directions of others and adapts and evolves her own role behaviors.
b. The mother begins identifying role-partner and assumes care-taking tasks.
c. The mother develops a sense of harmony, confidence, and competence in how she performs her role.
3. Mercer's (2004) second stage of transformation to becoming a mother, beginning at birth and continuing 2 to 6 weeks postpartum, involves
a. moving toward a new normal.
b. commitment and attachment.
c. acquaintance.
4. In the context of BAM theory, "mother" means
a. birthing individuals as well as adoptive mothers and gestational carriers.
b. a woman who gives birth and subsequently parents her offspring, exclusively.
c. all intended parents, including fathers or female-identifying co-parents.
5. Which statement is true regarding the 9 major concepts in BAM theory?
a. The 4 stages are discrete and non-linear.
b. The stages are nested inside the woman's 3 levels of her environment.
c. They are causal as well as associational.
6. Mercer's (2004) proposal to change the name of the theory from MRA to BAM involves a logical inconsistency between motherhood's continuing evolution and which stage of motherhood?
a. Stage 2
b. Stage 3
c. Stage 4
7. The authors report that BAM theory is lacking in parsimony because of
a. the complex nature of the topic.
b. its limited impact on the scientific literature.
c. the lack of generalizability of the theory.
8. In the 1994 study by Mercer & Ferketich that tested MRA/BAM theory, what was a predictor of competence among high-risk women but not low-risk women?
a. self-esteem
b. fetal attachment
c. mastery
9. The authors note numerous changes related to mothering, parenting, and family in the US and around the world since Rubin began her work in the 1960s. These include the
a. increased average age of mothers.
b. adoption of infants from other countries.
c. improvement in the medical care of mothers and their infants.
10. The authors report that MRA/BAM theory is especially relevant to 2 important clinical issues, including
a. infant mortality.
b. environmental health impacts.
c. maternal mental health.