Association between obesity body image and self-esteem among middle-aged and elderly community-dwelling individuals with chronic schizophrenia

Abstract

For people diagnosed with Schizophrenia they have to take antipsychotic medications for stabilizing their symptoms Physical illness such as obesity metabolic syndrome or other chronic diseases may be also induced because of the drug side effects and poor dietary which may lower their self-esteem So they have a substantially reduced life expectancy compared with the ordinary people This raise a concern and important issue of mental health literacy The primary purposes of the cross-sectional study were to investigate the relationship between obesity body image and self-esteem of chronic schizophrenia patients Using purposive sampling 111 participants were recruited from patients aged 40-65 years at psychiatric institutions in Kaohsiung and Tainan Besides demographic data medical history and blood test further data were collected using the structured survey questionnaires such as Stunkard Figure Rating Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Results of this study demonstrated that 1) Patients with low self-awareness of metabolic syndrome had a significantly higher percentage of obesity (r = 40 p < 001); 2) Patients with high self-awareness of metabolic syndrome had a significantly higher percentage of distorted body image(Mean = 6 5 SD = 1 5) ;3) Patients with obvious distorted body image had a significantly higher percentage of obesity(χ? = 12 39 p < 001); 4) Metabolic Syndrome was a significant key indicator to low self-esteem among patients with schizophrenia(β = - 20 p < 05)

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hui-Ching Weng (Supervisor)