Authors

María Isabel Bonilla Carrasco1, María Carmen Solano Ruiz2

Position

1Doctora (Universidad de Alicante). CAP Les Planes Sant Joan Despí (IDIAP Jordi Gol). Departamento de Enfermería. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Barcelona 2Doctora (Universidad de Alicante). Departamento de Enfermería. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad de Alicante. Alicante

Contact address

María Isabel Bonilla Carrasco. Rambla Josep Maria Jujol, 16. 08970 Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona).

Contact email: davibel3@hotmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to explore the experience of pain and body self-perception in young patients with idiopathic scoliosis managed at the Rachis Unit from the Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital Vall d´Hebron (Barcelona).
Method: a qualitative phenomenological study conducted in 2011. Through convenience sampling, the study included young patients, from 15 to 24 years of age, who had been diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis and admitted to the hospital unit for corrective surgery. Semi-structured interviews were conducted one week after surgery, in the patient’s room and with a duration between 15 and 25 minutes, which were recorded and transcribed. A preliminary analysis determined speech saturation; thematic analysis was conducted.
Results: the participants were 13 women and two men. The categories found were: “feelings and emotions”, “disease and abnormality”, “adolescence”, alongside those two described in this article “Scoliosis (symptomatology and discovery)” and “Body image and beauty”. Pain was only present in some patients, with varying intensity, and it was not a key factor in the discovery of the disease (which was mainly associated with the presence of deformity or a casual finding), or with the choice of corrective surgery, which derived mostly from esthetic concerns. Patients tried to hide their deformity through clothes, posture modification or social restrictions, and they maintained these behaviours even if they entailed a major effort.
Conclusion: there is a great esthetic concern; deformity alters the body self-perception and generates concealment behaviours and social adaptations. This concern seems to be a greater driver than pain at the time of making decisions; however, it can be very limiting in some cases.

Keywords:

Scoliosis; adolescent development; body image; self-image; qualitative research

Versión en Español

Título:

Dolor y alteración de la imagen corporal en adolescentes con escoliosis idiopática