Body Image Among Turkish Women During the First Year Postpartum

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the body image of Turkish women in their first year postpartum. We recruited 440 postpartum women who had applied to the outpatient clinics of the Maternity and Children's Hospital in the city of Ordu, Turkey. The mean of the women's body image scores was over the “middle level.” The women's body image scale (BIS) score showed a significant negative relation with age, number of births, weight before pregnancy, weight gain, during pregnancy, weight soon after childbirth, present weight, postpartum weight gain, and postpartum body mass index (BMI).

Acknowledgments

We thank all the women who so willingly participated in this study. Financial support for this research was provided by the researchers. This research was submitted as a poster presentation at the Ninth ESC Congress on Improving Life Quality Through Contraception and Reproductive Health Care, Istanbul, Turkey, May 3–6, 2006.