Association of self-compassion and body image disturbance among young breast cancer patients: Mediating effect of body surveillance and body shame

Objective: To examine whether body surveillance and body shame mediated the association between selfcompassion and body image disturbance among young breast cancer patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a total of 310 young women with breast cancer were recruited by convenience sampling. All of them completed self-report measurements of demographic and clinical characteristics, self-compassion scale, body image self-rating questionnaire for breast cancer and body surveillance scale, and body shame scale between September and December 2021 at a tertiary cancer hospital in Tianjin, China. Data analysis was performed with correlation analysis and structural equation modeling to verify relationships between key variables. Results: Less self-compassion was significantly associated with greater body image disturbance, while a positive correlation was found between body image disturbance, body surveillance, and body shame. Self-compassion indirectly negative predicted body image disturbance via the chain mediation of body surveillance and body shame. Conclusions: The links of self-compassion and body image disturbance were mediated by body surveillance and body shame. Reducing patients' excessive body surveillance and body shame by improving their ability of selfcompassion may be an effective measure to reduce body image disturbance.