The relationship between the self esteems and the health promotion and protection behaviors of 13-18 years old adolescents at children's houses sites

ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SELF ESTEEMS AND THE HEALTH PROMOTION AND PROTECTION BEHAVIORS OF 13-18 YEARS OLD ADOLESCENTS AT CHILDREN'S HOUSES SITES Dursun, Buket Master's Thesis, Department of Nursing, Department of Public Health Nursing Advisor: Doç. Dr. Aygül KISSAL May 2025, xiv+131 This study is a cross-sectional, relationship-seeking study conducted to examine the relationship between self-esteem and health-promoting and protective behaviors of adolescents aged 13-18 years staying in children's houses sites. The population of the study consisted of a total of 282 adolescents living in A Children's Homes Site (A CHS) (N: 252) and B Children's Homes Site (B CHS) (N: 30) in Ankara between 15.10.2023 and 15.11.2023. The sampling technique that is used in this study is complete census method. A total of 257 adolescents who met the inclusion criteria participated in the study. The data were collected with the "Personal Information Form, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and Promotive and Protective Health Behaviors Scale of Adolescents (PPHBS)". The data were analyzed with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 22 program. In the evaluation of the data; descriptive statistics (number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median and interquartile difference), independent sample t-test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis Variance and Regression analysis were used. The mean age of the adolescents participating in the study was 15.70±1.55. Among adolescents, 89.1% were female and 79% were high school students. The mean RSES score of the participants was 2.82±1.32. Among the adolescents, 15.6% had high self-esteem, 72.4% had moderate self-esteem and 12.1% had low self-esteem. The mean score of the adolescents on the PPHBS was 169.65±31.21. The mean score of PPHBS health promotion sub-dimension was 87.49±16.66, and the mean score of health protection sub-dimension was 81.91±20.33. A negative, weakly, and statistically significant relationship (r=-0.261; p<0.001) was found between the RSES scores of adolescents and PPHBS scores. According to the results of the regression analysis, the variables of educational status-middle school, educational status-high school and health perception status-very good predicted the PPHBS at a significant level. Body Mass Index-normal and loneliness-sometimes, loneliness-always variables predicted RSES significantly. As a result, as the self-esteem level of adolescents increases, health-promoting and protective behaviors increase. Support should continue to be provided to the development of health protection and promotion behaviors by meeting and securing the educational needs of adolescents staying in the CHS. Training and practices should be planned for these disadvantaged groups with limited social and parental support for weight maintenance and strategies for coping with the feeling of loneliness. Keywords: Adolescent, Self Esteems, Orphanages, Health Promotion, Health Behavior