Body image, and the impact of treatment on body image in women with breast cancer, remains an important issue for researchers and clinicians in the interdisciplinary fields of psychosocial oncology and rehabilitation.
The paper presents a comparative analysis of research papers published in relevant research publications - European Journal of Cancer, Psycho-Oncology, Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of Chronic Diseases, etc. – focusing on the issues of body image in women with breast cancer. The sample consisted of 25 research papers.
The clinical entity of body image was analyzed on the basis of connection among dominant variables (breast cancer, quality of life, psychosocial adjustment, sexuality, body image) and different categories of complementary variables such as psycho-emotional determinants, psychosocial determinants, body experience, therapeutic approaches, and scientific evaluation. Based on the analysis of correlations among dominant and complementary variables which defined quasi-canonical factors, it seemed appropriate to call them an overall factor of latent somatopsychic anxiety. This factor might represent one of important components in consideration of the clinical entity of body image in diagnostics and therapy.
The presented results arise from a scientific research project on “Complementary Supportive Therapies and Development of Life Potentials”, supported by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia.Slika tijela i utjecaj različitih oblika liječenja na doživljaj slike tijela u žena s rakom dojke važan je predmet znanstvenih i kliničkih istraživanja u interdisciplinarnom području psihosocijalne onkologije i rehabilitacije.
U radu je prikazana komparativna analiza znanstvenih radova objavljenih u relevantnim znanstvenim časopisima: European Journal of Cancer, Psycho-Oncology, Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of Chronic Diseases, itd. u kojima su se autori bavili problemskim područjem slike tijela u žena s rakom dojke. Obuhvaćen je uzorak od 25 znanstvenih radova.
Klinički entitet slike tijela razmatran je na osnovi povezanosti između dominantnih varijabli (rak dojke, kvaliteta života, psihosocijalna adaptacija, seksualnost, slika tijela) i različitih kategorija komplementarnih varijabla kao što su psihoemocionalne determinante, psihosocijalne determinante, tjelesno iskustvo, terapijski pristupi i znanstvena evaluacija.
Prikazani rezultati istraživanja proizašli su iz znanstvenog projekta „Komplementarne suportivne terapije i razvoj životnih potencijala pod potporom Ministarstva znanosti, prosvjete i športa Republike Hrvatske
