Self-esteem and assertiveness levels of nursing and midwifery students

Nursing and midwifery education is a hard and stressful process. In this process, nursing and midwifery students are expected to have a high self-confidence, to express themselves, to communicate effectively, and to be able to defend his/her herself. However, it has been claimed their education decreases students? self-respect, and canalize them to the behaviors that are not in assertive manner.The universe of our descriptive study was conducted to determine self-esteem and assertiveness levels of nursing and midwifery students, consists of the students of Cukurova University Adana Health College. The data is collected by questionnaire for socio-demographic characteristics, Stanley Coopersmith Self-Respect Scale (SCS) and Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS).%51,1 of the students were nursing, and %48,9 of them were midwifery department students. %66 of the students graduated from high school or vocational schools, %51,6 of them had 4 and more brothers or sisters, %31,3 of them were the first child in the family, %92,4 of their parents were alive, %42,1 of their fathers were retired and %97,1 of their mothers were housewives, %47,4 of their fathers and %52,0 of their mothers graduates of primary schools, %93,2 of the students had nuclear families, %46,9 of them grew up in cities, and %43.7 of them stayed in dormitories. It has been found that the mean of the students? SCS scores were 71,94±15,86, and the mean of RAS scores were 21,50±21,27. Also, there was significant relationship positively between SCS and RAS scores. The SCS scores of midwifery department students (73,66±15,46) were higher than nursing department students (70,30±16,10), and this difference was found to be significant (p<0,05). %38,6 of the students was found to have a low level of self-essteem, and %61,4 of them had a high level of self-essteem. It has also been found that SCS is affected from the school which students graduate from, the number of the children in the family, the place where they grew up, and the amount of money that they earn in a month. %29,3 of the students were found to be shy, %70,7 of them to be assertive, and RAS was affected from the place where they grew up and their mothers? education status (r=0,588, p<0, 01)Key Words: Assertiveness, Self-essteem, Nursing, Midwifery, Student.