Ma. Irma C. Bustamante

• Dr. Irma Bustamante finished her BSN and her Master of Arts in Nursing, Major in 
• Maternal and Child Health, both at the University of Santo Tomas, with the highest honors.

She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing at the University of the Philippines.

She is an educator, a counselor, a writer, a consultant, and a researcher, both nationally and internationally.

She is a faculty of the UST Graduate School and College of Nursing. She has spoken in various international conference in the USA, Amsterdam, Malaysia, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beirut, Bahrain, South Africa, among others.

She was an associate Professor at the Aga Khan International University, with eight international satellite campuses for several years.

Findings and Recommendations:

1. The essence of womanhood is being a good mother and a good wife;
2. Roles that women play can either be working mother or non-working mother, however, whether women are working or not, they should still perform their responsibilities as mother and wife.
3. Respondents felt that it is still the male who has the higher status in the society, although they were others who felt that men and women are equal.
4. Abused was perceived wrong, however, respondents felt they could do little about the situation.
5. A number of respondents felt that women are to blame for the occurrence of abuse.
6. As measured by the self-esteem scale, the respondent self-esteem was found to be moderate.
7. There was no relationship between the roles that women play and their status in society to their levels of self esteem.
8. A significant difference in the self esteem existed:
   a.    Among the study group before and after the intervention measure, the Nursing Self-Esteem Enhancement Program, which had been used for four consecutive weeks.
   b.    Between the study and the control group after the intervention measure has been used.
9. There was no significant difference in Self esteem:
   a.    Among the control group before and after four weeks time duration
   b.    Between the control and study group before an intervention measure has been used.
10. When the study and control group were taken together, the presence of the intervention measure could predict an increase in self esteem. When taken singly among the study group, no demographic variable could predict increase self esteem.

*To learn more about Ma. Irma C. Bustamante’s theory, conceptual model and other Filipino nursing theorists, get a copy of the book entitled “Theoretical Foundations of Nursing: The Philippine Perspective” by: Dr. Eufemia Octaviano and Dr. Carl Balita.