“Burden that cannot be borne”: qualitative study of body dissatisfaction among women during the pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Long-duration restrictions during the pandemic caused different effects on women’s mental health in terms of eating behavior and negative body perception. This study was performed with the aim of determining opinions about body perceptions women during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a qualitative study using the content analysis method. A total of 10 women, determined with the targeted sampling method (similar group), were interviewed who were young adults and adults. Research data were collected between July – August 2021 with an information form and semi-structured interview form. The content analysis method was used to analyze data to create themes. The women in the study were aged from 20–39 years and eight of the 10 women were married, and all had undergraduate degrees. The research revealed 3 main themes and 7 subthemes. The themes were determined as dissatisfaction (vicious circle, loss of the self-respect), burden that cannot be borne (complications, pressure from others) and restrictions (cage, self-care neglect, Necessity of support). During the pandemic, it was identified that the body dissatisfaction of women increased, in addition to emotional and physical burdens, they had difficulty coping with this situation and required psychological support to struggle with burdens they could not bear.