A
Esmaiel soleymany; hanie pakravan
Abstract
Objective: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies affecting women globally, with significant physical, psychological, and social consequences. Treatments such as mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy often lead to body image disturbances, reduced self-esteem, and lower quality ...
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Objective: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies affecting women globally, with significant physical, psychological, and social consequences. Treatments such as mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy often lead to body image disturbances, reduced self-esteem, and lower quality of life. Among psychological coping strategies, body acceptance, defined as acknowledging, normalizing, and adapting to bodily changes, plays a key role in promoting mental well-being in breast cancer patients. This study aimed to validate and norm the Body Acceptance Scale for Women with Breast Cancer (BAS-BC), a newly developed instrument designed to assess body acceptance among breast cancer survivors. The research evaluated the psychometric properties of the BAS-BC in an Iranian population. Method: A descriptive validation design was employed. Participants included 457 Iranian women diagnosed with breast cancer, recruited via convenience sampling. Data were collected online through validated instruments: BAS-BC (Ahn & Suh, 2023), the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), and the SF-36 Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire. Statistical analyses, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Pearson correlation, and Cronbach’s alpha, were conducted using SPSS-23 and AMOS-24. Results: CFA supported a six-factor structure of the BAS-BC (exposure, perception, adaptation, return to daily life, successful transition, and leap toward the future), consisting of 17 items. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84). Convergent validity was confirmed through significant correlations between BAS-BC scores and both MBSRQ and SF-36 measures. The six factors explained 82.5% of the total variance, indicating strong construct validity. Conclusion: The BAS-BC offers a robust tool for both research and clinical assessment of body acceptance among breast cancer patients. Its application can inform personalized therapeutic approaches aimed at improving psychosocial outcomes and quality of life. Future research should explore cultural influences on body acceptance and develop targeted interventions to support body image adjustment in this population.
