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free-response question

a test or survey item that allows the respondent to answer entirely as he or she pleases, as opposed to a fixed-alternative question, in which the respondent must choose from several provided options.

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Psychology term of the day

March 10th 2025

custodial care

custodial care

1. care rendered to a patient with prolonged mental or physical disability that includes assisted daily living (e.g., the regular feeding and washing of bedridden patients) but typically not mental health services themselves.

2. confinement in such institutions as prisons and military correctional facilities that place restrictions on individuals’ liberty under the rules of law and that protect and monitor the individual or protect others from the individual’s violent and harmful tendencies or potential.