Write your message

Search published articles


Showing 7 results for Body Image
Psychological Experiences of Women with Breast Cancer after Passing through the Critical Stage; a Qualitative Study
Fatemeh Khansari, Yasaman Saeedinejad, Azam Raoofi, Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2016)
Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women around the world, and the survival rate for patients greatly depends on their quality of life, which is in turn determined by their psychological experiences. The present study thus focuses on investigating psychological experiences among women with breast cancer.

Methods: This research is a content analysis qualitative study, based on semi-open and semi-structured interviews. The participants comprised of 15 patients with breast cancer, undergoing chemotherapy or follow-up treatments after their mastectomy, who had visited the Breast Cancer Research Center of the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (BCRC, ACECR) at the time of the research. None of the patients had distant metastasis and the disease was controlled. We have selected this group of patients because they are passing through the critical stage of facing with the bad news, spending many levels of their disease treatment, and achieving stability in the disease situation. After permission, the participants were interviewed with the open and unbiased questions in a relaxed atmosphere away from confounding factors and in an empty room of the clinic. The interview with each participant lasted 30 minutes and the participants orally allowed us to record the interview. The results were analyzed after several reviewing the transcript of the interview.

Results: The participants were 36 to 72 years old, and their education backgrounds ranged from illiteracy to bachelor's degree. All patients were married and had 1 to 3 children. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, some patients felt anger or sadness, and they generally emphasized on the necessity of emotional supports from their families to face the diagnosis results. Some participants did not view cancer as a disaster, and a majority of them did not wish they had not been affected with by cancer, while most of them contemplated about their death every night.

Conclusion: The results of the study depicted that while most patients experienced anger or sadness when they were informed about their cancer diagnosis, they had accepted the disease and its side effects through time, in a manner that most patients had coped with dramatic changes in their body image as a result of mastectomy, and did not recall it as a negative experience. It seemed that time could gradually change psychological experiences among cancerous patients.


The Comparison of Sexual Satisfaction and Body Image between Women with Breast Cancer after Treatment and Healthy Women
Ghorban Fathi Aghdam, Shahpar Haghighat, Sara Dorri, Najmeh Nazeri, Amene Ajorbandian,
Volume 11, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction: In Iran, many women with breast cancer in face-to-face counseling have complained of problems with their spouse after diagnosis and treatment. One of the most important issues in this field is to reduce the patient's psychological problems and increase the quality of life so that they can return to normal after the illness.
Therefore, the present study was conducted to compare sexual satisfaction and body image in women with breast cancer after treatment with healthy women.
Methods: This research is a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytic) study. Its population includes healthy women with breast cancer after treatment, between 93 and 95 years of age under 50, totally 100, and according to the Cochran formula, the sample size required 73 subjects per group Became. And sampling was carried out in an accessible manner. SPSS software and t-student test were used to analyze the data.
Results: In this study, there was a significant difference in sexual satisfaction (p=0.000) and body image (p=0.001) between the two groups of healthy women and those who recovered from breast cancer. This significant difference was also found for all components of both variables (p<0.05).
Conclusion: If there is a team of psychologists or counselors in the treatment centers alongside the treatment team and simultaneously, considering the physical condition of the patients, their mental and psychological conditions regarding sexual satisfaction and body image are also considered, the quality of life can be considered. He raised these people and slightly crippled them.

Comparison of Patient Satisfaction and Body Image after “Breast Conserving Surgery” and “Immediate Breast Reconstruction with Prosthesis after Mastectomy”
Asiie Olfatbakhsh, Ahmad Kaviani, Shahpar Haghighat, Esmat Hashemi, Hoda Tafazzoli Harandi , Fatemeh Sari,
Volume 11, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
Introduction: Different clinical trials showed that survival of Breast Conserving Surgery (BCS) and mastectomy is the same. However change in the appearance of a woman cause psychological trauma and could affect her quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare BCS and post-mastectomy reconstruction by prosthesis in terms of satisfaction and body image (BI) in Breast Cancer Research Center and Imam Khomeini Hospital.
Methods: Breast cancer patients in stage 0, I, II who completed their treatment at least 3 months ago were included since august 2016 till October 2017. The Persian version of the BICI (Body Image Concern Inventory) questionnaire was used and Patients’ satisfaction was evaluated by scoring and also four-scale answers. The mean score of outcomes were measured by SPSS software and correlation between demographic variables like age and marital status and outcomes were analyzed by non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis& Mann-Whitney.
Results: A total of 70 patients with BCS cases and 43 patients with prosthetic reconstruction were enrolled. The mean follow up time was 43.5 months (3-288) and the mean age was 44.3. There were no significant difference between two groups in terms of age, occupation, educational level and marital status except for economic status which was higher in econstruction group. The mean score for BI for BCS was 33.4 and for reconstruction group was 33.8. There was no significant difference between two groups in term of body image, also between demographic variables and body image. The mean score for patient satisfaction was 9.49 in BCS group and 8.89 in reconstruction group (P=0.004). Two groups were significantly different in term of satisfaction, it means that BCS patients were more satisfied about their surgery. Older patients were more satisfied in comparison to younger ones.
Conclusion: Breast Conserving Surgery and Mastectomy with reconstruction by prosthesis were not significantly different in term of Body Image, but the satisfaction of surgery was worse in reconstruction group. The preferred option for breast cancer surgery is breast conservation if there are no contraindications. However reconstruction should be offered to patients for better body image and satisfaction.

Effect of Compassion-Focused Therapy on Body Image and Marital Satisfaction in Women with Breast Cancer
Javad Khalatbari, Vahid Hemmati Sabet, Habibeh Mohammadi,
Volume 11, Issue 3 (12-2018)
Abstract
Introduction: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of compassion focused therapy on body image and marital satisfaction in women with breast cancer.
Methods: This research utilized a pre-test and post-test semi-experimental design with a control group. A total of 30 subjects were selected from women with breast cancer presenting to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran in 2017. They were then randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (n=15 for each group). The experimental group received a compassion focused therapy for eight sessions of 90 minutes, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The research instruments were body image questionnaire of Cash (2000) and Enrich marital inventory of Fowlers and Olson (1989). Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance.
Results: The mean post-test scores of the experimental group in the components of the body image were apparent evaluation (P<0.043), apparent tendency (P<0.006), fit assessment (P<0.001), tendency to fit (P<0.001), appearance assessment (P<0/030), health tendency (P<0.001), tendency to disease (P<0.001), satisfaction of body parts (P<0.001), mental retardation with overweight (P<0.001) ), Self-classification of weight (P<0.003) is less than the mean post-test scores of the control group (P<0.05). Also, the experimental and control groups have a significant difference in terms of marital satisfaction components (P<0.05), personality issues (P<0.001), marital relationship (P<0.007), solving in contractual response components (P<0.02), satisfaction (P<0.001), financial management (P<0.001), time and leisure (P<0.002), sexual relations (P<0/01), parenting (P<0.001), relatives and relatives (P<0.001)), Male and female equality (P<0.014), ideological orientation (P<0.007), the experimental group was significantly more than marital satisfaction in the control group (P=0.001).
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that compassion focused therapy can affect the body image and marital satisfaction in women with breast cancer.

Women’s Lived Experiences of Femininity after Mastectomy and Treatment: A Qualitative Study
Azadeh Ghazafari, Mansooreh Nikoogoftar,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (5-2021)
Abstract
Introduction: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women, and mastectomy, the surgical treatment for this cancer, affects different aspects of patients’ life. This study aimed to describe women’s lived experiences of femininity after mastectomy and treatment.
Methods: This qualitative study was conducted on 17 breast cancer survivors in Tehran in 2018-2019. The participants, who were selected through snowball sampling, had undergone mastectomy at least 6 months before and were younger than 50 years. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed with the contractual content analysis method.
Results: The analysis of patients’ experiences led to the identification of 7 main themes (and 18 subtheme): social life (social isolation, quitting the job or getting a part-time job, and dropping out of school), body image (being asymmetric, being unattractive, and requiring reconstructive surgery), others’ opinions (complaining about how others look at them and concerns of being pitied), marital relationships (fear of abandonment, fear of spouse’s pity, shame of being nude, and compromised sexual intimacy), reproductive health (premature menopause and possible infertility), perceived support (attending support group meetings and keeping in touch with cured ones), taking responsibilities of household works (inability to do housewife affairs and inability to do the housework).
Conclusion: Mastectomy and treatment for breast cancer greatly affect many areas of individual and social life and marital relationships of patients, necessitating the need to develop and establish free support resources by NGOs and highlighting the government’s role in reducing the psychological and family damage caused by the disease.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Integrated Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (MiCBT) on Body Image and Emotional Regulation in Mastectomy Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Maedeh Rasouli, Habibolah Khazaie, Yahya Yarahmadi,
Volume 16, Issue 2 (5-2023)
Abstract
Introduction: Women with breast cancer often face many psychological problems after mastectomy, especially difficulties in regulating body image attitudes and emotions, which necessitate therapeutic attention. Consequently, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-integrated cognitive behavioural therapy on emotion regulation difficulties and body image in mastectomy patients.
Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized clinical trial.  The population included all patients undergoing mastectomy in Tehran in 2022.  Convenience sampling was adopted in selecting 24 patients from three hospitals (Modares, Moheb Yas, and Hazrat Rasool Akram), psychotherapy clinics, and social media. The participants (n=24) were divided into two groups of equal size-one experimental and one control group. The two groups were assessed at three different times: pre-test, post-test, and two-month follow-up. The questionnaires used in this study were the Body Image Scale (BIS, Hopwood et al. 2001) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, Gratz & Roemer 2003). Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS-25 software. Frequency, mean, and standard deviation were reported for descriptive statistics, and repeated measures analysis of variance was used for inferential statistics.
Results: Findings showed that MiCBT significantly improves body image and emotion regulation difficulties in mastectomy patients. Significant effect sizes were reported for emotion regulation difficulties (η²=0.59, p≥0.01) and body image (η²=0.55, p≥0.01).
Conclusion: In combination with medications, MiCBT can be used to improve emotional problems and body image in mastectomy patients.


Predicting Marital Sexual Function Based on the Dimensions of Mindfulness: the Mediating Role of Body Image in Married Women with a History of Mastectomy
Nahid Piri, Azimeh Hajipour, Amirmahdi Katani, Elahe Pashaei Dastjerdi, Maryam Adibi, Nasrin Jaberghaderi,
Volume 18, Issue 1 (3-2025)
Abstract
Introduction: Sexual problems in breast cancer patients with a history of mastectomy are an issue that impairs their quality of life and is associated with an increase in medical and health costs. The present study aimed to predict sexual function based on the dimensions of mindfulness (trait, relational, and sexual) and the mediating role of body image in women with breast cancer who have undergone mastectomy.
Materials and Methods: This correlational descriptive research was conducted in 2023-2024. The sample included 181 married patients with mastectomy surgery who were selected using convenience method. Sexual Mindfulness Measure (SMM), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Relationship Mindfulness Measure (RMM), and Marital Sexual Function Scale (MSFS) were used to investigate the research objectives. Sampling was conducted both online and in person. The SPSS (version 25) and R software were used for data analysis. The data were analyzed in the descriptive section using mean, frequency, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation coefficient, and in the inferential statistics section using structural equation modeling.
Results: The results showed that the proposed model has a good fit. Moreover, the two dimensions of sexual and relational mindfulness directly predicted marital sexual functioning (P<0.01). Additionally, the two dimensions of relational and sexual mindfulness with the mediating role of body image could significantly predict sexual function in married women with a history of mastectomy (P<0.01).
Conclusion: To enhance the sexual function of patients, therapists are recommended to focus on components such as sexual mindfulness, relational mindfulness, and body image.

Page 1 from 1     

© 2025 CC BY-NC 4.0 | Iranian Journal of Breast Diseases

Designed & Developed by: Yektaweb