Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age.

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

'I decided to attend to him because it's my duty': Student Nurses perception and attitude towards care of older adults

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Nurses perception and attitude towards an older patient can positively or negatively influence the quality rendered. As students under training, the views of this population needs to be sought and shaped to improve the quality of care the older patients receive. This is because life expectancy is on the rise. The study aimed to explore students’ perception of ageing and their attitude towards care of the older adults. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An exploratory descriptive design was used. Data form containing the sociodemographic attributes of the students and a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers in line with the literature. The participants interviewed were student nurses who had been in clinical practice for at least one semester. Four focus group discussions (FGD) were held. RESULTS: Average age of the participants was 22.30 years. An equal number of males and females (15 each) were recruited to have a balance in gender. Students expressed that they saw the older adults as their grandparents so they try to accord them respect and care. However, older adults are perceived not receptive to nurses in training. The students stated that registered nurses neglected the basic care of older adults such as diaper changes, bathing, and feeding, and would rather beckon student nurses to attend to the older adults. CONCLUSION: Gerontology as a stand-alone course is necessary for early years of training to give an in-depth education to nursing students and instil a positive attitude towards older adult patients