Self handicapping in nursing students: effects on psychological needs and self compassion

Purpose: Self-handicapping is an effective defense strategy that leads to poor performance in different situations such as individual behavior and education. It is aimed to examine the effects of self-handicapping on the psychological needs and self compassion level of nursing students. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 482 types of nursing education students at two universities in Turkey. Introductory Information Form, Self-Handicapping Scale, Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale and Self-Compassion Scale were used in the data collection, Results: It was determined that the students' self compassion score was medium, the highest awareness and the lowest self-judgment score. Significant differences were found according to gender and age variable. A negative correlation was determined between the self handicapping score of the nursing students and the total self compassion score and the sub-dimensions of the psychological needs balance satisfaction scale. It was determined that self-handicapping score explained the total self compassion score by 26%. Conclusion: The findings obtained show that as the self handicapping score decreases, psychological needs and self compassion scores increase.