Impact of counseling on self-esteem and anxiety levels among nursing students

Abstract

Background: Self-esteem can be defined as a personal consideration individuals have about their feelings and their value, that is, people analyze how much they like themselves, how they see and think of themselves. Self-esteem is an important quality and a personality trait or attribute that is considered as a specific requirement for healthcare professionals during their encounters with patients that leads to better performance and positively reinforces hospital customer satisfaction. Beginning student nurses have reported a high incidence of anxiety. High levels of anxiety can affect students self-esteem, learning, performance and in some cases retention within a nursing program. Not every suffering from anxiety has an anxiety disorder. That is why there is also generic counseling available for those that simply want someone to talk to.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research design was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Minofya University. The sample consisted of 62 first year baccalaureate nursing students were recruited for this study during the first term of academic year 2012/2013. Tools of data collection, Tool 1: questionnaire sheet, Tool 2: Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale (RSES), Tool 3: Anxiety scale: Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A).

Results: The result revealed statistical significance difference between before and after intervention groups.

Conclusions: There was improvement of the levels of self-esteem and decreasing anxiety level. So the faculties of nursing can promote counseling programs via conferences, seminars and new training courses. Further studies are required to generalize the results and more programs among different nursing levels are also required.