Assessment of Self-Esteem and Depression in Burn Afflicted Women

Abstract

Burn is a severe trauma and affected the lives of many. Burn is twice as likely to affect the women as compared to men. Burn afflicted women not only suffer from psychological as well as physical problems. This study is conducted to examine the frequency of burns, level of self-esteem and depression among burn afflicted women and to identify the effects of burns on the lives of burn victims. A cross-sectional study is conducted among 105 young women of age 18 and above, assessment instruments included Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). Variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics whereas the relationships between different variables were observed using spearman rank correlation and chi square test respectively. Regression analysis is also applied to predict the factors affecting self-esteem and depression among burn afflicted women. The study depicted that majority of women were of age more than 32 years, majority has reported that they have received help and support from their families. This study revealed that majority of the burn victims were burnt accidentally whereas it was explored that 35% women have low, 63% women have moderate and only about 2% women have high self-esteem. It was also observed that 20% women have minimal, 36% women have mild, 29% have moderate and only 15% women have severe depression. It is concluded that self-esteem is associated with family support and type of burn whereas there is a significant relationship between depression, age, family support and type of burn respectively. The results concluded that depression is dependent on burn status, religion, age and marital status whereas self-esteem is dependent on burn status.