Kontakt 2011, 13(1):86-94 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2011.011

Evaluation of one's own body and its change in perception of damage to healthHealth and Social Sciences - Original article

Milina Bubeníková^*, Ľubica Bánovčinová

Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Jesseniova lekárska fakulta v Martine, Ústav nelekárskych študijných programov

Our body is perceived not only by our surroundings, but first of all by ourselves. The satisfaction/dissatisfaction with our body, but mainly with its particular parts, affects the survival of our own value.
The target of the work was to find how nurses working in practice evaluate their bodies and how their evaluation varies in the perception of damage to health and mobility restriction. The body image test was employed for the determination of one's own body, where the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with individuals parts of the body is expressed based on a 5-grade scale by Likert. We compared average values of the first and second evaluation and determined changes occurring in the perception of a mobility restriction due to a disease or injury. The results obtained demonstrate more negative evaluation of individual parts of the body as soon as in the first evaluation, where average values of 17 parts of 20 were between 2.01 and 2.92 (four grades mean a maximum value). Only three parts of the body had average values of the group between 3.00 and 3.26. In the perception of damage to health with restricting the mobility, the average values were even lower - nearly all the body parts (19 of 20) had average values of 1.62 to 2.89 grades. The highest average score in both evaluations was attributed to the eyes and mouth (3.26/3.04 and 3.05/2.89). Only few respondents reported a higher score in the second evaluation, particularly in the following parts: neck, hair, eyes, mouth, but also shoulders, waist and buttocks.
The disease, injury, and mobility restriction frequently negatively affect the self-evaluation since not only the society but also individuals perceive them as a stigma. In addition, it is also necessary to take into account other factors, as for example dependence on other people, restriction of activities and social roles. In women - nurses working involved in practice, there may also be effects of personal experience with patients having similar problems.

Keywords: woman; body image; change; immobility; self-evaluation

Received: June 23, 2010; Accepted: March 3, 2011; Published: March 28, 2011  Show citation