Perceived Body Image Among Young Girls Residing in Urban Slums and Reality : A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: In the last two decades, percentage of underweight has been not much changed while prevalence of obesity is increased by four to eight folds.(1)(2)(3) Having an incorrect perception about one’s body weight could make one unlikely to seek intervention. This study was aimed to assess nutritional status of the young girls, the agreement between the perceived and actual weight category and to identify how the socio-demographic determinants affect nutritional status and its perceptions. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted between December 2013 to July 2014 among 660 young girls (15-25 years) living in the slums of Surat. Study tools were a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire, weighing machine and stadiometer. Results: Thirty two percent were under weight. 7.9% were overweight and 0.8% was obese. Correct perception about body weight was seen among 56.14%. When person agreement was done for perception and reality towards their weight, observed kappa is 0.21 with CI 0.14-0.28. This showed very poor agreement between the reality of their BMI and their perception towards their weight. Pallor was present among 44.4% participants Conclusion: Awareness drive is needed to correct their perception by about BMI, healthy body and healthy diet to prevent malnutrition.

Keywords

• BMI
• Body Image
• Malnutrition
• Kappa statistic