The Portuguese version of the body image scale (BIS) - psychometric properties in a sample of breast cancer patients

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the body image scale (BIS; Hopwood, P., Fletcher, I., Lee, A., Al Ghazal, S., 2001. A body image scale for use with cancer patients. European Journal of Cancer, 37, 189-197). This is a brief and psychometric robust measure of body image for use with cancer patients, independently of age, cancer type, treatment or stage of the disease and it was developed in collaboration with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Study Group.

Method: The sample is comprised of 173 Portuguese postoperative breast cancer patients that completed a battery of measures that included the BIS and other scales of body image and quality of life, in order to explore its construct validity.

Results: The Portuguese version of BIS confirmed the original unidimensional structure and demonstrated adequate internal consistency, both in the global sample (alpha=.93) as in surgical subgroups (mastectomy=.92 and breast-conserving surgery=.93). Evidence for the construct validity was provided through moderate to largely sized correlations between the BIS and other related measures. In further support of its discriminant validity, significant differences in BIS scores were found between women who underwent mastectomy and those who underwent breast-conserving surgery, with the former presenting higher scores. Age and time since diagnosis were not associated with BIS scores.

Conclusions: The Portuguese BIS proved to be a reliable and valid measure of body image concerns in a sample of breast cancer patients, allowing a brief and comprehensive assessment, both on clinical and research settings.