The nurse has been challenged to find ways to emphasize client strengths while caring for a client with the nursing diagnosis Situational low self-esteem relate to job loss. Of the following, which is a strategy most likely to produce the desired effect?

Question

1. Praising the client for even small advancements
2. Asking the client what a friend would identify as the client's strengths
3. Looking at employment ads and finding the client a suitable job
4. Inviting the client to compare herself with her mother or sister

Answer 1

ANS: 2
Clients with low self-esteem are often reluctant or unable to identify their own strengths. Asking what another person might list may open the door to more realistic self-appraisal. 1. Clients are rarely able to accept praise and use it as a tool for increasing self-esteem. 3. Improved self-esteem comes with proof of increased self-efficacy; thus finding a job for the client would not be maxi-mally helpful. 4. Inviting comparisons between client and a significant other usually produces negative statements about the self and positive statements about the other.