This research aimed to identify the self-esteem degree and the nonverbal signs of the Burn Center patients at HC-FMUSP. Those signs complement, contradict or demonstrate the patients' feelings when they are asked about their self-esteem. The project was accomplished with 80 patient (54 women and 26 men) attended in the hospital in February 2002. It has been approved by the Commissions of Ethics on Research of EEUSP and HC-FMUSP. The individual interviews with the patients were based on the scale of self-esteem validated in Brazil and also based on the classification of the nonverbal signs proposed by Silva. Through the results we verified that 18.75% patients present low self-esteem, 32.50% medium self-esteem and 48.75% high self-esteem. We also concluded that the complement was the function of the nonverbal signs, more often during the interviews.
Self-concept; Burns; Communication; Empathy
