Comparing self esteem and depression in nursing students - Essay Example

Comparing self esteem and depression in nursing The following dis is a study which specifically focused on nursing students. The study objectively sought to compare the levels of self esteem together with depression amongst the students. In the course of study, the focus is on students from different backgrounds in terms of ethnicity. The number of students chosen for the study was ten. In reference to the Beck Depression inventory, the overall impression is that most of the students did not feel depressed.

This is derived from the scores against the indexes that against which the study was conducted. For instance, in reference to sadness, the number of students who felt sad was six. Out of the other students, the ethnic groups that reportedly felt sad in most instances are the Hispanic, Haitian, as well as the Philipino. It should be noted that in this study, the scores that represent the various variables under study are either one or zero. A notable result from the study is the fact that all of the participating students admittedly cried more often than they used to.

This could be related to the levels of depression in the course of pursuing their education. However, there are other factors which could be attributed to the behavioral trait (Tomori & Rus-Makovec, 2000).Self esteem can be related to failure. Those who feel like failures are most cases having low self esteem. Consequently, in the above study, the revelation is that most of the students, actually all, never felt like failures. These levels of self appreciation can also be related to responses to such issues such as what is viewed as failure in the past.

Besides, only one student responded that he never enjoyed what was previously perceived to be a source of enjoyment. Pessimism is akin to a variable that can be used to reflect on the levels of self esteem amongst the students. In this case, most of the students were upbeat about their future prospects. In fact, out of those who participated in the study, only two Latinos responded that they were not really upbeat about their futures. The insinuation is that most of the students in the faculty of nursing are really optimistic.

When critically analyzed, the optimism comes from the fact that they have a high self esteem (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). The feeling of being worthless is an attribute that reflects low self esteem. In reference to the attribute, most of the students scored zero which insinuate that they never felt worthless. Consequently, the insinuation from the study is that the prevalence of depression amongst the students is down to levels which are low (Pendleton, 2008). From the study conducted, it is evident that depression and self esteem issues are some of the factors that are prevalent among nursing students.

However, a comparison of the two attributes reveals that in as much as depression is less prevalent, it is the more pronounced factor amongst the students. In brief, depression is more prevalent than self esteem issues amongst the students. Overall, most of the students felt confident. A considerable population of the students, however, experienced occasional depressions. ReferencesBeck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck depression inventory: Manual. San Antonio, Tex: Psychological Corp.

Pendleton, J. L. (2008). The Beck depression inventory: Fastscreen for medical patients compared to the geriatric depression scale-15: predicting depression in medically ill geriatric residents living in long-term care.Tomori, M., & Rus-Makovec, M. (2000). Eating behavior, depression, and self- esteem in high school students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26: 361-367.