Prevalence of Low Self-Esteem among Undergraduate Nursing Students of Public And Private Sector Colleges of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

To find out the level of self-esteem and factors that influence the self-esteem of nursing students.

METHODOLOGY

Using a descriptive methodology, our study utilized non-purposive sampling to select participants. We engaged 218 B.Sc. nursing students from different colleges. The distribution was: 46 from the 1st year, 72 from the 2nd year, 90 from the 3rd year, and 10 from the 4th year. The survey had two parts: Section A covered socio-demographic details, and Section B employed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem questionnaire, administered to those who agreed to participate.

RESULTS

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine the data. According to the findings, 69.7% males and 30.3% were females. The results show that most of nursing students (89%) have normal self-esteem, while 9.2% have high and 1.8% have low self-esteem. Females have higher self-esteem (21.2%) than males (3.9%). Nuclear families have more high self-esteem (15.2%) than joint or other families. Upon comparing students’ self-esteem with socio-demographic factors using the chi-square test (p=0.05), a notable association emerged with family type and gender.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows most students have balanced self-esteem. Interestingly, female students and those from nuclear families typically display higher self-esteem than male students or those from varied family backgrounds. This highlights the influence of gender and family structure on nursing students self-esteem.