Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: There is no doubt that regular exercise boosts one’s physical and mental health and this is of paramount importance for nurses due to their unique work conditions. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of aerobic exercises on self- concept and self-esteem of nurses. Methods: This study is a Quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design with experimental and control groups. The subjects included males (13exp, 7con) and female (10exp, 3con) nurses. convenience sampling method was used for selection of participants and demographic information questionnaire, Eysenck self-esteem questionnaire and self-concept questionnaire were used for data collection. The intervention consisted of 8 weeks aerobic exercise. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver.20 calculating inferential statistic tests of analysis of covariance, chi-square test, independent and paired T-tests. Results: The results showed that pre-test mean score of physical self-concept in experimental group was (295/74±52/74) and post-test mean score was (342/13±37/60). So there was significant difference (p<0.05), indeed there was no significant difference in control group(pre-test=333/40±40/88, post-test=338±38/38). The effect of aerobic exercise on nurses,s self-esteem in experimental group was not significant (p>0.05, pre-test =20/17±2/06 and post-test=21±2/41).and similarly the difference in control group pre-test (19±1/41) and post-test (19/60±1/52) was not significant. Conclusion: Aerobic exercise program improved physical self-concept of nurses, while it's not effective on boosting their self-esteem.