Self-esteem of nursing students in the pandemic context

Abstract

Introduction: Remote teaching has become the main means of teaching for educational institutions in the face of the pandemic, being characterized as a temporary change due to the crisis. Objective: to evaluate the self-esteem of nursing students in a pandemic context. Methodology: This is a descriptive study, with a quantitative approach. Data collection and analysis was based on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (The Rosenberg Self-Esteem) and a complementary instrument developed by the authors. The research was carried out in the municipality of Cuité, on the campus of the Federal University of Campina Grande, the Education and Health Center (CES), with students from the Nursing Course. Results: Among those interviewed, 60.7% presented values that indicate reduced self-esteem in general. The numbers indicate that the absolute majority have low self-esteem, resulting from the period experienced during the pandemic, with a score between 7 and 12 on the score, which represents 89.7% of those interviewed. This shows that the strain experienced by students during this time is present and noticeable. Conclusion: Low self-esteem is present among students, as shown by the results obtained through this research, which may suggest that this reduced self-esteem comes from the period experienced by the pandemic.