Assessing body dissatisfaction in Japanese women during the second trimester of pregnancy using a new figure rating scale.
Sayaka Tsuchiya, Madoka Yasui, Kazutomo Ohashi
PMID 30968515WHAT IT FOUND
Japanese women in their sixth month of pregnancy thought their bodies were 1.6 kg/m2 BMI larger than their ideal body size, and 151 of 161 overestimated their body size.
Key findings
01The average perceived body size was 24.9 kg/m2 BMI and the average ideal body size was 23.3 kg/m2 BMI. The reported body dissatisfaction difference was 1.6 kg/m2 BMI.
02Of the 161 participants, 151 overestimated their body size regardless of their BMI.
03Body dissatisfaction was significantly correlated with BMI before pregnancy (r = .498) and BMI in the sixth month (r = .567). Women with higher BMI tended to report more dissatisfaction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were healthy singleton pregnant women, so it may not apply to higher-risk pregnancies. The response rate was 39.7%, so non-responders may have differed. Self-reported weight was used, although it correlated highly with clinic weight. The scale was not checked against another established measure at the same time. The scale was not checked for whether answers stay stable over time. The figures for higher BMI were predicted rather than drawn from photographed women with obesity. Because this was a descriptive survey, it cannot show that body dissatisfaction caused or resulted from higher BMI. The study did not examine whether body dissatisfaction changes weight management behavior or perinatal outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this scale will improve weight gain or birth outcomes. The study measured reported body dissatisfaction and did not test an intervention.