DefinePK

Abstract

The current study was conducted to find out the relationship between self-esteem and depression among patients of spinal cord injury (SCI) during rehabilitation, after one and half year of earthquake October, 2005 in Pakistan. A total number of 67 spinal injured (paraplegic) patients 27 men and 40 women with age range between 15 to 26 year from rehabilitation centers and hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were taken as sample by using purposive sampling technique. The participants were administered Beck Depression Inventory-II (1996) and Rifai Self-esteem Scale (1999) to measure their level of depression and self esteem. Pearson's Product Moment Correlation and t-test were used for the statistical significance of the data. It was found that there was a significant relationship (r = -0.68, p < .01) between self esteem and depression. This also indicates that there is a high negative correlation between the self esteem and depression. Moreover a significant difference was found between men and women on depression and self-esteem scores, which indicated that men have higher level of self-esteem and low depression than women. Keeping in view the above findings it is suggested that if psychologists use proper strategies and psychotherapeutic interventions to enhance the self-esteem of these patients that will help to improve their depressive symptoms.