title: Body image in cystic fibrosis--development of a brief diagnostic scale.
abstract: For a number of reasons, body image is an important concept in behavioral medicine. First, it is known to be related to clinical phenomena such as poor self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. Second, body image has the potential to influence the patients' self-management and compliance motivation. Finally, body image can be improved through psychological and educative interventions. This study presents the development and validation of a brief, 8-item scale assessing attitudinal body image in patients with cystic fibrosis. A principal component analysis supported three domains represented by the items: evaluation/satisfaction, importance, and trust in physical functioning/health. The test-retest correlations ranged from 0.83 to 0.88, internal consistencies were above 0.70, except for the domain "importance" (alpha = 0.44). The scale scores differentiated between patients with mild and severe symptoms of the disease. Regression analyses identified body image as an important predictor of the patients' health-related quality of life. In summary, our results provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and construct, concurrent, and clinical validity of the instrument.
authors.affiliation: Department for Paediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité-Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wenninger
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wahn
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Staab
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012803:Sick Role