The self-concept and body image of women who had cesarean births compared with women who had vaginal births

This nonexperimental study was conducted to determine if there was a difference in self-concept or body image of women who deliver their babies by cesarean section when compared with women who deliver their babies vaginally. The sample was comprised of 34 female subjects who ranged in age from 18 to 34 years. Nineteen of the women had had a cesarean section while 15 women had had a vaginal birth. Data were collected on the postpartum unit on or before the woman’s fifth postpartal day. The instrument used for data collection was the Body-Cathexis/Self Cathexis (BC/SC) Scale, developed by Secord and Jourard (1953). The conclusions of this study were based on the research questions. There was no significant difference between the self-concept, body image or anxiety indicator scores of women who experienced cesarean sections when compared with women who experienced vaginal births. There was a significant positive correlation between BC scores with SC scores for cesarean delivered women (P = 0.05) and between the scores for vaginally delivered women (P = 0.001).