This study explored adult women’s lived experiences with body dissatisfaction. Using a multi-methods qualitative approach incorporating in-depth semi-structured interviews and arts-based projects, women between the ages of 20-39 engaged in a critical exploration of their body experiences in order to deepen understanding of the psychological construct of body dissatisfaction and its ongoing influence in their lives. Ten women from diverse social and ethnocultural backgrounds took part in the study, completing 1-2 interviews, an in-session drawing exercise, and a creative project. Interview transcripts, drawings, and creative projects were analyzed for themes using an hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Four core categories emerged from the data. The first category contained the women’s understanding of the experience and meaning of body dissatisfaction. The second category captured the external reinforcement of body dissatisfaction and related body beliefs. The third emergent category delineated the impact of body dissatisfaction on daily life, including body-self relationships and interpersonal relationships. The final category captured the difficulties the women encountered as they attempted to overcome their feelings of body dissatisfaction and their negative body beliefs. This research highlighted the complex and multidimensional meaning of body dissatisfaction in adult women’s lives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/43709 |
| Date | 14 January 2014 |
| Creators | Ross, Erin |
| Contributors | Piran, Niva |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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