A Comparative Study of Self-Esteem, Health Status and Self-Care in the Rural and Urban Elderly

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the relationships of self-esteem, health status and self-care, and compare them between the rural and urban elderly. Method: The subjects were 126 persons with age over 65: rural(69 persons) and urban(57 persons). The data was collected from 1st Sep to 10th Oct, 2004 by questionnaires, and was analyzed with t-test, ANOVA, Least Significant Difference and Pearson's correlation coefficient in the SPSS-Win 10.0. Results: The level of self-esteem, health status and self-care of the elderly in rural were lower than those of the elderly in urban. The higher group self-esteem in the rural elderly shows more health status and self-care than the lower group. Significant differences between two groups in the urban elderly were not found. Self-esteem, health status and self-care were positively correlated each other in the rural elderly. Significant correlations were found between self-esteem and health status, and between self-esteem and self-care in the rural elderly. Conclusion: Self-esteem forms the foundation of psychosocial health and provides a measure for the quality of life of the elderly in long term care. As nursing is in a unique position to promote self-esteem, the nurse can plan and provide nursing intervention with the consideration of characteristics of the rural and urban elderly to promote the self-esteem, health status and self-care of the elderly.