A nurse planning a smoking cessation clinic for adolescents in the local middle schools and high schools is providing:

• A. Community-oriented care
• B. Community-based care
• C. Secondary care
• D. Tertiary care

Answer: (A)

The main idea is planning a health program that targets the health of a whole community, not just treating individuals after they get sick. By organizing a smoking-cessation effort in local middle and high schools, the nurse is focusing on a defined population (adolescents in those schools) and aiming to improve the community’s overall health through prevention, health promotion, and collaboration with schools and other community partners. That collaborative, population-level approach is what we call community-oriented care.

Secondary and tertiary care refer to levels of clinical care, typically involving specialty services and care within medical facilities, not to population-based prevention efforts. While the program is delivered in a community setting, its emphasis on reducing smoking prevalence and improving adolescents’ health at the community level makes it community-oriented care. Community-based care would involve delivering care outside traditional settings to individuals or families, but the key distinction here is the focus on the health of the community as a whole through preventive action.