The impact on body image and quality of life in breast cancer patients.
Andressa Kasse Figueiro Mastrangelli, Vânia Lopes Pinto, Simone Elias
PMID 40072996WHAT IT FOUND
Overall quality of life did not improve during chemotherapy with image consulting, and body image and physical well-being worsened.
Key findings
01Total quality of life scores did not change significantly (mean 73.8 to 70.1, p=0.186).
02Body image scores increased significantly from mean 5.5 to 11.6, and physical well-being scores decreased from mean 21.3 to 16.8 (both p < 0.001).
03During chemotherapy, 52.7% said image consulting helped a lot, 41% helped somewhat, and 5.1% helped little.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was small and only included women with breast cancer, mostly from low socioeconomic groups, so it may not apply to other patients. Participants were receiving chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, so image consulting's contribution cannot be separated. The authors state that the small sample and lack of comparable published methods limited the analysis. The paper reports some inconsistent satisfaction figures, so those ratings should be read cautiously.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that image consulting improved body image or quality of life. The study only compared the same women before and after chemotherapy, participants were receiving other cancer treatments, and body image and physical well-being scores worsened over time.