ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SELF-CARE BEHAVIORS AND SELF-ESTEEM OF RURAL ELDERLIES; NECESSITY OF HEALTH PROMOTION

INTRODUCTION: Changes in the modern medical science caused significant reduction of mortality and every day increase of the elderly in the world. According to prevalence of physical and mental problems in elderly, it is necessary to take some actions. Self care in one of the best way to improve elderly health and life satisfaction that seems have a relation to self-esteem. METHODS: This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 180 elderly in rural areas of the Sari city. Elderly selected by multi-stage randomize sampling method. Data were gathered by using standard questionnaires of self-care and Rosenberg self-esteem. Data were analyzed by Spearman and Pearson’s correlation using SPSS software (V16). FINDINGS: The mean±SD of the ages of the elderly were 66.85±7.661. The score of self-care varies between 99 to 155 and most of them (66.7%) had good level of self-care. Also, most of elderly (52.2%) had high level of self-esteem. Also there was a significant relationship, between self-care and self-esteem (P<0.001, r=0.426). CONCLUSION: According to significant relationship between self-care and self-esteem of elderly, by the planning for improving the self care of elderly, can increase their health and significantly reduce from physical and mental complications.