CLINICAL STAGE, SELF-ESTEEM AND BODY IMAGE PERCEPTION IN WOMEN WITH MASTECTOMIZED BREAST CANCER

Abstract

Objective: To relate the sociodemographic characteristics and clinical stage of women with mastectomized breast cancer to their self-esteem and body image perception. Material and Method: Descriptive, crosssectional study conducted with a population of 318 women with mastectomized breast cancer and a sample of 174 women. A questionnaire was administered to obtain sociodemographic information and clinical stage data. The Rosenberg and Body Image (BIS) scales were used to determine self-esteem and body image perception, respectively. Data were processed using SPSS version 27.0. Descriptive statistics were used, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient was applied to analyze the relationships between the
variables. Women with low self esteem between the ages of 41 and 65 predominated (58%), 23% had a secondary education, 21% were married, and 22% were in stage III of the disease. There is a weak but significant positive correlation between the stage of the pathology and of body image perception, that is, as the stage of the disease progresses, there is a slight tendency for changes in body image perception. Conclusions: Sociodemographic factors were not significantly related to self-esteem or body image perception. However, self-esteem was significantly influenced by body image perception, which
may have important clinical and psychological implications. Progression of the disease stage affects body image perception.