The Self Confidence Survey - Essay Example

"The Self Confidence Survey" is a worthy example of a paper on care.
The assessment for building confidence and self-esteem of new nursing students described for this assignment has many benefits for today’s nursing classrooms as well as one potential negative outcome in a nursing course. The technique, the Self Confidence Survey, provides opportunities to discuss specific self-esteem-related issues that impact classroom students, which could not be identified without being given an opportunity to discuss personal emotions such as with this technique.

One question which is most vital to the success of this technique is Question Four which opens the students’ minds to the potential impressions which are being left on immediate supervisors in relation to nursing student self-esteem levels. It provides a chance for them to think of themselves in a critical light, thinking of how they might be appearing (in terms of body language, as one example) to the hospital and the patient populations. Because a nurse is such a visible and critical element in the hospital hierarchy, needing to provide both expertise and self-assuredness, it would seem that nurses must consider how they appear from a variety of hospital stakeholders. In essence, this technique gives nursing students new critical thinking skills which are quite important in this profession.

The Self Confidence Survey also helps to reinforce that the educator and school leadership really values their students and wishes to make nursing a rewarding experience and are willing to provide an environment that can help them maximize the students’ fullest potential. Because the entire survey does not limit responses to only a 1-5 rating structure but gives questions that can provide for problems in the social environment, the classroom environment, or when working with other health professionals. It is likely that many students would not be willing to discuss some of these issues face-to-face for personal reasons or maybe concern over whether they will damage their peer or teacher relationships. By granting anonymity, this technique lets them be completely honest in all of their responses which can give the instructor a very real picture of what is bothering students so that they can be worked on or adjusted.

The only drawback to the Self Confidence Survey is that the portion of the rating of the technique might allow the student to give responses which they believe the instructor will want to hear. For example, the instructor may be attempting to reinforce the importance of high self-confidence to reduce patient anxiety (as one example), so the student knows that the instructor values self-esteem. They might simply say that their self-confidence is high, perhaps by rating themselves a four on the scale when in reality they are having many frustrations and anxieties over a specific issue. This would not give an accurate picture of student perceptions and emotions.

However, despite the small potential drawback, this seems to be a good tool for really coming to understand what motivates students and how they can be approached differently in classroom scenarios. If a pattern emerges, after reviewing the technique, which shows that many students are feeling a similar emotion, it can be removed from the class or adjusted to make it more tolerable or rewarding.