Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the body grid (BG) as an assessment tool for body image in a sample of patients with breast cancer, after surgery. We explored two measures of cognitive structure, percentage of variance accounted for by the first factor (PVAFF) and polarization, and we compared measures of body image and body self-esteem obtained by means of the BG with those obtained via a validated body image questionnaire. Our sample was composed of 23 patients (12 subjected to radical mastectomy, 11 subjected to conserving surgery) and 24 healthy controls. Participants were administered the BG and the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). We analyzed the similarities between instruments using correlations and nonparametric tests. We have also provided two case studies to exemplify the use of the BG. We found statistical differences in cognitive structure between patients and healthy controls. There were no differences between women subjected to mastectomy and women with breast conserving surgery in the level of PVAFF, but there were significant differences between them in the level of polarization. We found significant correlations between body image indices of both instruments, especially self-evaluated attractiveness (MBSRQ) and distance between real and ideal body (BG). We found similar distributions of these indices in all of the samples. We concluded that the BG provides useful information about body image. The results show that both instruments assess similar constructs. This suggests that the BG is a valid instrument for body image assessment.
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Published Version
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