The nurse working on a pediatric unit is speaking to a child who is terminally ill. The child is ...

2. Preschoolers

Rationale:
Preschool-age children can see their bodies deteriorate and feel the effects of medications used during disease progression and treatment. Infants and toddlers are not actually aware of death, but they are aware of and react to changes in normal routines and the behavior of parents. School-age children have subtle fears about body integrity and anxieties about the seriousness of their illness. Adolescents have a mature understanding of death, but the normal developmental milestones of adolescence add to their problems in facing a terminal illness.