Students' Self-Concepts: Implications for Promoting Self-Care Within the Nursing Curriculum

Abstract

<h4>ABSTRACT</h4> <P>An important component of encouraging self-care among nursing students is the development of a self-concept that is aligned with valuing personal health. Dimensions of self-concept have been found to correlate with health behaviors and responses to health promotion information. In this study, 300 undergraduate students in a health course completed measures regarding their self-concept, health behaviors, and responses to a health promotion message. Students reported little overlap between their descriptions of themselves and of people they liked and respected and their descriptions of people who are healthy and take care of themselves. In addition, various self-concept ratings were related to self-reported involvement with smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise, as well as to their responses to a health promotion message. This study offers suggestions for addressing the complexity of students’ self-concepts in the nursing curriculum to foster a self-identity that includes valuing self-care at this key developmental stage.</P> <h4>AUTHOR</h4> <P>Received: January 3, 2005</P> <P>Accepted: May 6, 2005</P> <P>Dr. Horneffer is Associate Professor, Western Michigan University, Holistic Health Care Program, College of Health and Human Services, Kalamazoo, Michigan.</P> <P>Address correspondence to Karen J. Horneffer, PhD, Associate Professor, Western Michigan University, Holistic Health Care Program, College of Health and Human Services, Kalamazoo, MI 49009; e-mail: <a href="mailto:k.horneffer-ginter@wmich.edu">k.horneffer-ginter@wmich.edu</a>.</P>

Association between dietary patterns and sociodemographics: A cross‐sectional study of Australian nursing students

“…Nursing and other health-related students may acquire skills and knowledge in health and promotion practices during their education/training, increasing their awareness of health behavior risks (Peltzer, Pengpid, Yung, Aounallah-Skhiri, & Rehman, 2016). However, this knowledge is often not applied to their personal behavior, and they have similar health behavior risk as other students (Horneffer, 2006;Peltzer et al, 2016;Stark, Manning-Walsh, & Vliem, 2005).…”

“…The current body of evidence suggests that many university students adopt unhealthy lifestyle behavior as a result of a range of individual, social, and environmental factors, and nursing students might be at risk of poorer health behavior and dietary patterns due to the additional pressures of clinical placement and clinical experiences associated with caring for others. Existing evidence supports the provision of healthy eating interventions for university students (Martinez et al, 2016;Sogari et al, 2018) and including self-care education in nurses' curriculum (Horneffer, 2006;Stark et al, 2005). Therefore, the development of healthier dietary behavior in nurses may help to address issues with student dropout and retention in the nursing workforce and support nurses to establish and maintain healthier lifestyles and work as positive role models to their patients.…”

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Nursing: An Overview

“…Those nurses with a healthy self-concept influence patient care in a positive direction, and those nurses with a poor self-concept affect patient care negatively [20]. Several studies carried out in the field of nursing have suggested that the self has a critical impact on other important variables such as job satisfaction, stress, burnout and attribution [21][22][23].…”

Self-care behaviors and practices of nursing students: Review of literature

“…All of the included studies clearly outlined their research question, purpose, target population, sample, and its characteristics. Out of 11 studies, five studies used cross-sectional design (1,(9)(10)(11)(12), two studies used longitudinal design (13,14), two studies used experimental designs (8,15), and one study each used qualitative (16) and action research method (17). Out of 11 studies, five studies guided the research through the lens of theoretical framework (9,11,12,14,17).…”