Assessment and intervention for certainty and uncertainty.

Research suggests that high degrees of uncertainty and absolute certainty can be very stressful for nursing's clients. Yet, research also suggests that a moderate degree of unexpectedness, unpredictability, and uncertainty may actually produce positive effects--pleasure, hope, information pattern search, and a sense of well-being. The author discusses the research related to psychological certainty and uncertainty, provides suggestions for assessing clients' degree of certainty and uncertainty, and delineates interventions for dealing with detrimental levels of certainty and uncertainty. Precautions for instituting interventions are also stressed.