Purpose This study attempted to examine nursing students’ self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and self-efficacy, to identify factors affecting empathy.
Methods A predictive correlational design was used. The participants in this study were nursing students from fours university of Korea. The questionnaires were administered to a convenience sample of 147 nursing students in the Republic of Korea.
Results Mean item scores for self-esteem, interpersonal relationship, self-efficacy, and empathy were 3.83, 3.63, 3.30, and 3.44, respectively (possible range, 1–5). Empathy was correlated with self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and self-efficacy. The multiple regression analysis revealed that 45.9% of the variance in empathy is attributable to gender, major satisfaction, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and interpersonal relationships. The most important factor interpersonal relationship explained.
Conclusion Improving nursing students’ major satisfaction, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and interpersonal relationships are strategies that may foster empathy.
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PURPOSE From the point of view that medical students are under the pressure of academic achievement and vulnerable to subjective distress, there is need for evaluate their strategies for enhancing self-esteem when they failed academically. This study was to develop the scale for enhancing self-esteem and to confirm the convergent, discriminant and criteria validity.
METHODS Data were collected from 279 students at a medical school in Seoul. The scale of strategies for enhancing self-esteem (SSES) comprised comparison with inferior, doubting academic failure, accepting failure, and attribution to incidental factors. Also, to confirm the validities, participants responded to items measuring self-esteem, narcissism, 5 personality factors, depression and adjustment.
RESULTS By explanatory factor analysis of SSES, composed of three factors-comparison, doubting, and acceptance-and in the confirmatory factor analysis, 3 dimensions were best fit. Notably, comparison and doubting strategies were positively associated with depression and negatively associated with adjustment. In contrast, acceptance strategies were negatively associated with depression and positively associated with adjustment. Additionally, comparison and doubting strategies were positively associated with narcissism.
CONCLUSION The SSES of medical school students after academic failure yields 3 dimensions reliably and consistently. Also, it shows satisfactory convergent and concurrent validities.
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PURPOSE This study investigated the mental health status, self-esteem, social comparison, and narcissism among medical school students. In addition, the mediational effect of social comparison between self-esteem and narcissism was also tested with regard to whether the students compared themselves with others to enhance their own self-esteem.
METHODS Data were collected from 427 medical school students at a medical school in Seoul. The questionnaire included the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 383 scale, the self-esteem scale, the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure, and the narcissism scale. Using the MMPI findings, a clinical psychologist screened for possible clinical cases. Then, the frequencies of those with distress were compared between three groups, based on affiliation; premedical, medical, and graduate medical students. Also, the level of self-esteem, social comparison, and narcissism was tested by analysis of (ANCOVA), and the mediational role of social comparison was explored.
RESULTS Irrespective of affiliation, almost 10% of medical school students showed mental illness or distress. Of the clinical scales on the MMPI, the T scores of the Pa (Paranoia), Sc (Schizophrenia), and Ma (Hypomania) scales were higher in premedical and medical school students than in graduate medical school students. In addition, the mediational role of social comparison was confirmed only in medical school students.
CONCLUSION We demonstrated that subjective distress in certain medical school students needs to be addressed. Also, self-esteem was an important factor that correlated with mental health and distress indices. However, comparing oneself with others to enhance self-esteem by derogating or focusing could result in increased narcissism.
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Self-esteem was determined using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (reliability = 86% in our study). Multiple regression analysis was used to determine gender difference in self-esteem and statistical relevance in each covariate.
RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference in self-esteem between male and female medical students.
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