Indian Journal of Positive Psychology © 2016 Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare

2016, 7(2), 215-217 ISSN-p-2229-4937e-2321-368X

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A study of perceived social support and self-esteem

among medical professionals
Humera Shafi, Arshi Khan, Asooda Maqbool, Bilal Ahmad, Mudassir Hassan and Rafiya Sharif
Department of Psychology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

Social support is most important in predicting the physical health and well-being, ranging from childhood to older
adults. Social support influences the level of self-esteem of an individual. This important dimension of sustenance is
considered as a specific requirement for taxing jobs, medical profession being one of them. During their encounters
with patients/caregivers, healthcare team members and hospital management and their coping is the concern of the
study. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceived social support and self-esteem among medical
professionals. Evaluations of the relationships between perceived social support and self-esteem among medical
professionals was done. The respondents completed a questionnaire including demographic information,
Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. Correlation and t-test
analyses were conducted. Perceived social support and self esteem positively correlated among medical
professionals. Further, perceived social support and self esteem in medical professionals, with respect to their
gender did not differ significantly but regarding their employment sector they differed significantly. Medical
educators should provide means to ameliorate social support, so as to increase or maintain self esteem in the long
term.

Keywords: perceived social support, self-esteem, medical professionals

The survival and growth of a healthy community depends on the
level of services offered and health sector being one. On numerous
occasions it has been suggested that an individual's self-esteem as
well as their perceived social support formed around work, plays a
significant role in determining their motivation, attitudes and
behaviors. Working in the public sector can provide a great deal of
satisfaction than working in private sector, nevertheless various
stressors like work overload are always present there. Stress stems
from the relationship between a person and the surrounding
environment and can be considered as an unpleasant emotional
situation that a person experiences when work-related requirements
cannot be counter-balanced with his/her ability to resolve them and
prolonged or intense stress can have a negative impact on an
individual's mental and physical health (Health & Safety Executive,
2001). Therefore, identifying and resolving the barriers of
performance among medical professionals should be considered.
Among various other factors, social support is most important in
predicting the physical health and well-being of everyone, ranging
from childhood through older adults. Gottlieb (2000) defined social
support more broadly as “the process of interaction in relationships
which improves coping, esteem, belonging and competence through
actual or perceived exchanges of physical or psychosocial
resources”. Social support is the perception and actuality that one is
cared for, has assistance available from other people, and that one is
part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can
be emotional (e.g., nurturance), tangible (e.g., financial assistance),
informational (e.g., advice), or companionship (e.g., sense of
belonging) and intangible (e.g. personal advice). Support can come
from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, neighbours, co-
workers, organizations, etc. Much research has been conducted to
discover how social support affects health issues. Cruza-Guet,
Correspondence should be sent to Humera Shafi
Department of Psychology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
Jammu and Kashmir
Spokane, Caskie, Brown, and Szapocznik (2008) found that
satisfaction with received social support was associated with lower
levels of psychological distress. The amount of social support a
person receives was found to be associated with higher levels of
psychological distress, signaling that the perceived effects rather
than the quantity or quality of social support is more important in
deterring psychological distress. Social support is one of many
factors that may influence the level of self-esteem an individual has.
Some people base self-esteem on being loved, attractive, and
competent. For others, self-esteem may depend on being powerful,
virtuous, or self-reliant. An individual's self-esteem will depend on
either internal or external factors. Basing self-esteem on internal
characteristics provides a better buffer against anxiety than if it were
based on external characteristics, including achievements and
conditional approval from others (Crocker, Luhtanen, Cooper, &
Bouvrette, 2003). Although internal characteristics provide a better
shield against anxiety, studies show that the external approval from
others influences self-esteem more than internal emotional support
(Crocker, et al., 2003; Wong, Wiest, & Cusick, 2002). Approval
from parents, friends, and teachers relates more to self-worth or self-
esteem than emotional support.
Self-esteem is an important quality and a personality trait or an
attribute that is considered as a specific requirement for healthcare
professionals during their encounters with patients/caregivers,
healthcare team members and hospital management. Self-esteem is
a term used in psychology to reflect person's overall emotional
assessment of his or her own worth. It is a judgment of oneself as
well as an attitude toward the self. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs
(for example, "I am competent," "I am worthy") and emotions such
as triumph, despair, pride and shame (Hewitt, 2009).
Self-esteem is a disposition that a person has which represents
their judgments of their own worthiness (Olsen, Breckler, &
Wiggins, 2008). In the mid-1960s, Morris Rosenberg and social-
learning theorists defined self-esteem as a personal worth or
worthiness (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). Nathaniel Branden
216 SHAFI ET AL./ A STUDY OF PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SELF-ESTEEM

in 1969 defined self-esteem as "the experience of being competent to
cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of
happiness." According to Branden, self-esteem is the sum of self-
confidence (a feeling of personal capacity) and self-respect (a feeling
of personal worth). It exists as a consequence of the implicit
judgment that every person has of their ability to face life's
challenges, to understand and solve problems, and their right to
achieve happiness, and be given respect (Branden, 1987). Because
self-esteem seems strongly related to social identity and the social
context, it would seem logical to expect that social support and self-
esteem would be correlated. There fore, the present study examined
the relationship between perceived social support and self-esteem
among medical professionals.
Objectives of the study
DFS scale is 0.804 indicating that the scale has high internal
consistency.
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965): Self-esteem was
measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). The RSE
is a 10-item self-report measure of global self-esteem. The items are
answered on a four-point scale, ranging from strong lyagree to
strongly disagree. Five of the items are reverse scored. The scale
score is a sum, with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. The
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is correlated with other self-report
measures of self-esteem (Coopersmith, 1967; Hagborg, 1993), and
previous studies have reported internal consistencies that range
from 0.75-0.88 (McCarthy & Hoge, 1982; Rosenberg, 1979). It has a
test-retest reliability of r = 0.82-0.88 (over a two-week interval;
Silber &Tippett, 1965).

● To assess perceived social support and self esteem among medical Statistical analysis
professionals. The data was analyzed using various statistical techniques such as
● To study the relationship of perceived social support and self mean and SD. Further the Pearson's Product Moment method of
esteem among medical professionals. correlation and t-test was also used to see the relationships and
● To study the difference in both perceived social support and self differences.
esteem among medical professionals with respect to their gender
Procedure
and employment sector (public/private).
Medical professionals (representing various specialties) from
Hypotheses of the study various govt. hospitals and private clinics were contacted for the
Ho1: There will be no significant correlation between perceived purpose of data collection. Questionnaires were given to the subjects
social support and self esteem medical professionals. and were requested to give their sincere responses. The subjects
Ho2: There is no significant difference in perceived social support were assured of confidentiality.
between male and female medical professionals.
Results and discussion
Ho3: There is no significant difference in self esteem between male
and female medical professionals. Table 1: showing correlation between perceived social support and
Ho4: There is no significant difference in perceived social support self esteem among medical professionals
between public and private sector medical professionals. Variable Pearson's coefficient
Ho5: There is no significant difference in self esteem between public
and private sector medical professionals. Self esteem
Family support 0.043NS
Method
Friends support 0.221**
Participants Other's support 0.234**
A sample consisted of 160 medical professional srepresenting Overall Perceived social support 0.189*
various specialties, purposively taken from various govt. hospitals **Significant at 0.01 level of significance; *Significant at 0.05 level
and private clinics of Kashmir valley. of significance; NS=Non Significant
Detailed description of insulin taking type 2 diabetic adults sample
Table 1 reveals the correlation coefficient of perceived social
Medical Gender Employment sector support and self esteem among medical professionals. The result
Professionals reveals that there is significant positive correlation between perceived
Male Female Public Private
social support and self esteemas correlation coefficient (r = 0.189) is
82 78 122 38 significant at 0.05 level of significance. In the light of above empirical
Total 160 evidences the hypothesis no. H01 which states stands rejected.

Instruments Table 2: showing comparison of mean scores of perceived social

support and self esteem among male and female medical
Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Assessment professionals
(Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, and Farley, 1988): Multi-Dimensional Scale
of Perceived Social Support Assessment was used to asses perceived Variable Gender N Mean SD df t-value
social support among the participants. It consists of 12 items which Perceived Male 82 05.21 1.10 158 -0.923NS
are rated on a 7-point scale. These 12 items assess social support from social support Female 78 05.37 1.05
three sources, family, friends and significant other. Coefficient alpha Self esteem Male 82 20.67 4.46 -1.150NS
for the sub-scales and the scale as a whole ranged from 0.85 to 0.95. Female 78 21.43 3.92
Test-retest values ranged from 0.72 to 0.85. DFS consists of 12 items
NS=Not Significant
which are rated on a 6-point scale. Cronbach's alpha for the 12-item
 Indian Journal of Positive Psychology 2016, 7(2), 215-217
Table 2 presents an overview of the t-value of perceived social
support and self esteem in male and female medical professionals. As
depicted by the table, perceived social support and self esteem in
medical professionals, with respect to their gender did not differ
Table 3: showing comparison of mean scores of perceived social support and self esteem among male and
female medical professionals
Variable Employment sector N Mean
Perceived social support Public 122
Private 38
Self esteem Public 122
Private 38
**Significant at 0.01 level of significance
Table 3 presents an overview of the t-value of perceived social
support and self esteem in public and private sector medical
professionals. As depicted by the table, perceived social support and
self esteem in medical professionals, with respect to their
employment sector differ significantly as both the t-values are
significant at 0.01 level of significance. In the light of above
empirical evidences the hypotheses no. H04 and H05 stand rejected.
Discussion and conclusion
● Findings revealed that there is a significant positive correlation
between perceived social support and self esteem among medical
professionals. This is because of the fact that social support can have a
direct impact on psychological well-being of individuals. In an
environment where social support is high, employees are able to
discuss ideas more openly and honestly (Bateman, 2009). Social
relationships are important in maintaining an individual's self-esteem,
as it fosters a sense of social support. This finding is also consistent to
various other previous studies in which a positive correlation was
found between perceived social support and self-esteem among
adolescents and undergraduate students (Cai-Lian, Teck-Heang, Wai-
Mun & Wei-Li, 2011; Budd, Buschman, & Esch, 2009).
● Results also revealed that medical professionals did not differ
significantly on perceived social support and self esteem as far as their
gender is concerned. This finding is consistent with the study done by
Gardner and Parkinson (2016) in which men and women veterinary
students did not differ on both perceived social support and self esteem.
● Results further revealed that public and private sector medical
professionals differ significantly on perceived social support and
self esteem. First part of this finding is consistent with the study
done by Rakesh (2012) in which the results revealed that Private
sector employees have higher perceived social support than public
sector employees. Second part of this finding is inconsistent with
the study done by Rahman and Nurullah (2014) and Hathaway
(2008) in which with employees of public and private
organizations did not differ significantly on self esteem.
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