Self-concept among school-age children with nephrotic syndrome

Background Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a major chronic renal problem among children. The psychological aspect is highly important because children with chronic diseases may have low self-concept and a distorted body image. Aim The aim was to assess self-concept among school-age children with NS. Participants and methods A descriptive exploratory research design was used. The study was conducted at the outpatient nephrology clinic and two Inpatient Medicine Units at Al-Mounira Pediatric, Cairo University Hospital. A purposive sample of 50 school-age children with NS (15 from inpatient and 35 from outpatient clinic) was recruited. A structured interview questionnaire and children’s self-concept scale were used. Results More than three-quarters of children aged 8 to less than 10 years had low self-concept. More than half of the children had learning difficulties and behavioral changes, whereas more than one-third had body changes and nearly half had problems with their parents. Regarding total self-concept, nearly three-quarters and more than half of the children had low self-concept regarding total school and family experiences, respectively, whereas less than three-quarters of the children had medium self-concept regarding total experiences with friends. Parenting problems, learning difficulties, and female sex were the major factors affecting children’s total self-concept. Conclusion Self-concept regarding total school and family experiences was negatively affected than total friends’ experiences among school-age children with NS. Recommendations Psychological interventions should be available for children with NS along different disease stages to enhance their self-concept. Replication on a larger sample and different settings to generalize the results is needed.