Resumen

Objective. Assessing self-esteem in nursing students of a HEI in Monteria in times of pandemic COVID-19, in the light of Rosemberg's Self-Esteem Theory. Methodology. Cross-sectional quantitative descriptive study. A sample of 130 nursing students from a higher education institution in Monteria was taken from the total population 365. Rosemberg's self-esteem scale was applied through the form in the Google Forms application with 4 sections: Informed consent, personal characteristics questionnaire, Rosemberg self-esteem scale and gratitude. Results. Out of 130 participating students, the average age was 21 years. The self-esteem assessment is dominated by the high category with 39.2%. The dimension of selfconfidence or personal satisfaction (positive self-esteem) corresponds to 15.41, and self-contempt or personal devaluation (negative self-esteem) to 13.07. Pearson's Chi-square statistic revealed relationships between "perception of mental health" and self-esteem, with a p-value of "0.000". Conclusion. The assessment of the Rosemberg self-esteem scale evidences the presence of difficulties in some of its dimensions, with the perception of the pandemic as a fundamental stressor.