Specific Self-Esteem: A Correlation to College Persistence in Health Care Technical Education

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Introduction1

Ontological Background of Persistence1

Contemporary Views of Persistence2

College Persistence8

Persistence in Health Care Technical Training9

Persistence in Healthcare Education11

Self Esteem13

Assessment and Self-Esteem14

Self-Esteem and Related Concepts in Education17

Self-Esteem and Related Concepts in Clinical Training20

Innovative Approaches23

Theories of Specific Self-Esteem24

Implications for Healthcare Technical Education27

REFERENCES29

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

The literature review in this chapter primarily focuses in the increased awareness of lack of persistence in students enrolled in college, more specifically in health care education at the technical level, and the proposed relationship to global self-esteem as an influential factor of affecting persistence. This chapter locates first the general philosophical approaches to persistence instituted in history and summarizes relevant contemporary views, followed by an analysis of the general implications of persistence in higher education. Secondly, it discusses the diverse theoretical framework surrounding self-esteem and its relevance in higher education. Lastly, it provides an insightful understanding of specific self-esteem mechanisms and its impacts in students enrolled in health care technical programs. Despite the fact that there are a great number of researches done addressing issues of persistence in higher education, including medical school and nursing school programs, and much more done in higher education, however, no much literature had been written to address issues of persistence correlated with any type of specific self-esteem and even less among students at health care technical programs. This study intends to fulfill this gap in the literature.

Ontological Background of Persistence

This concept of persistence was early explored in the mind of Heraclitus (Fl. 500 B.C.) when he noticed that everything moves on and nothing stays in the same place. In his “river fragment” theory he explained persistence and identity when he compares the flow of the river water to things that exists. Later on Plato (374 BC) brought into the philosophical arena a new model, for that era, called "forms." Plato's theory referred to the world surrounding including objects and human body as "pseudo-existent reflections of the true realities, eternally existing and perpetually unchanging entities." Plato believed that forms or figures were only temporary and what reminded unchangeable (persisted) after a process of change and time was the essence in its true element, Lawson-Tancred (1998 p. xviii). Eventually, the notion of persistence was addressed by Aristotle (384 BC). He connected the concept of persistence to substance, matter and change. Part of the Aristotelian "metaphysical" explanation of persistence began with the study of the change of material things. Aristotle believed that substances can changes through time but what persists throughout the process of change is the “matter.” However, Aristotle's thoughts of elements having the ability to remain constant forever failed to include practical applications to temporary human issues related to persistence. Although, humans have a similar ability to persist, adapt and survive though the processes of change, they are only capable to do it for much shorter time span (Robinson 1974, p. 168; Kanzian 2008, p. 1).

Contemporary Views of Persistence

Notwithstanding the efforts to explain persistence, ...