Relationship between Disability and Self-Esteem by a Disease

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the disabilities of daily living due to disease and self-esteem of patient. Subjects were 177 patients with physical disabilities and 99 healthy persons. We evaluated activities of daily living (ADL) and self-esteem using the question paper method. The modified Barthel Index and Rosenberg self-esteem scale were used for the evaluation. As a result, the patients showed lower points in ADL and self-esteem, compared with healthy persons. Furthermore, the patients with 4 limbs and trunk disavantage indicated the lowest points in ADL and self-esteem. Twelve-month follow-up surveys revealed no relationship between the improvement in ADL and self-esteem in 4 outpatients. These results suggest that recovery of self-esteem cannot be realized by only the improvement of ADL.