Relevance of Body Image, Physical Attractiveness, Sexual Satisfaction and Self-Esteem in the Joint and Independent Influence on Psychological Adjustment of Patients that Undergo Mastectomy

Abstract:

The study is a descriptive Ex-post facto research and quantitative design was adopted. Sample size was determined using Taro Yamane formula and purposive sampling technique was adopted to select one hundred and twenty post-surgical patients who had mastectomy for the study. Data was processed using statistical package for social science version 21. Two research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of percentages and three hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics of student t-test at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that there is influence of physical attractiveness and Body image on psychological adjustment among patients undergoing mastectomy in OAUTHC. It is shown that there exists a significant physical attractiveness and Body image difference in psychological adjustment [t (118) = 1.99; <.05]. There exists influence of sexual satisfaction on psychological adjustment among patients undergoing mastectomy in OAUTHC. It is shown that there exists significant sexual satisfaction difference in psychological adjustment [t (118) = 5.98; P.05]. Sexual satisfaction, self-esteem and physical attractiveness had significant joint influence on psychological adjustment [R = .33; R2 = .11; F (3, 118) = 4.33; P<.01]. Collectively, sexual satisfaction, self-esteem and physical attractiveness accounted for about 11% variance in psychological adjustment. However, only sexual satisfaction (β = .43; t = 6.33; P<.01) and physical attractiveness (β = .15; t = 1.99; P<.05) had independent influence on psychological adjustment. The improvement of body image and physical attractiveness will positively enhance the sexual satisfaction of patients which will have a positive effects on their psychological adjustment and improved quality of life.