Construction and validation of a body image rating scale: a preliminary study

To construct and validate a preliminary version of a scale for use in routine screening of body image disturbances in nursing practice.

A five-stage procedure consisting of item construction, analysis of content validity, analysis of reliability, analysis of construct validity, and analysis of the discriminant validity of the scale.

At the end of the current stage of development, the preliminary version of the scale consisted of 23 items, demonstrating stability, adequate internal consistency, and discriminant validity between subjects in the upper and lower groups of scores.

Although the psychometric properties of the scale have been delineated, the scale needs further psychometric evaluation and testing in different settings/samples so its clinical validity and reliability can be confirmed.

The preliminary version of the body image rating scale has the potential to provide the nurse with reliable and valid information about a person's mental image of his/her own body. Using it can help nurses to identify possible body image disturbances and to plan individual nursing interventions.