| Despite the advanced medical treatments in today's society that have drastically improved survival rates in adolescent cancer patients, the illness and its treatment can have a profound and devastating psychological impact on an adolescent survivor. The development of negative body image is common among adolescents receiving any type of cancer treatment, particularly due to the increased risk of experiencing significant changes in physical appearance (i.e. hair loss, skin changes, weight gain or loss, limb amputation, etc.). Adolescents that develop negative body image during and after treatment also exhibit subsequent adverse emotional and social difficulties such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, social withdrawal, and school refusal. Unfortunately, the development of negative body image and other adverse psychological effects after treatment can greatly impact many domains of functioning for an adolescent in both the short and long-term future. Although many adolescent cancer survivors have reported experiencing negative body image after treatment, there seems to be a lack of initiative towards actually preventing such issues. A combination of different therapeutic interventions has been shown to be effective in improving negative body image in adolescent cancer survivors. Examples of effective therapeutic interventions include psychoeducation, emotional support, peer support, and the use of coping skills. In this dissertation, a group-based body image prevention program is proposed to prevent negative body image from occurring in response to experiencing changes in the body, and improve the relationship with one's body as it undergoes changes. |
