The Body Appreciation Scale-2: Psychometric evaluation of the Puerto Rican Spanish version among women aged ≥ 50 years who are breast cancer survivors.

Purspose: Self-perceived body image may impact women's well-being and levels of depressive symptomatology after cancer-related treatment. The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a 10-item, unidimensional tool used to assess body appreciation, a facet of body image. A culturally relevant version of the BAS-2 was needed for the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico. A cross-cultural adaptation of the BAS-2 for Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico was conducted and tested its psychometric properties, using a methodological design. It was hypothesized that the BAS-2 adapted for Puerto Rican Spanish would have an internal consistency with a Cronbach α value greater than 0.70 and a unidimensional structure; and that body appreciation would be positively and significantly correlated to mental health and would be negatively and significantly correlated to depression and body mass index.

Methods: One hundred-nine participants were recruited with a diagnosis of breast cancer (stages 0 to III) who completed adjuvant curative therapy at least two months to five years prior to recruitment.

Results: Participants had an average age of 61.5 years (SD = 7.1), and 64.2% had a bachelor's degree or higher educational level. The internal consistency of the BAS-2 adapted for the Puerto Rican Spanish was Cronbach α = 0.92. Exploratory factor analysis indicated one-dimensionality of the test. Body appreciation was negatively correlated with higher levels of depressive symptomatology and with a higher body mass index, and positively correlated with higher levels of mental health.

Conclusion: The BAS-2 adapted for the Spanish of Puerto Rico is a psychometrically sound instrument to assess body image.