Psychological Aspects of Cosmetic Surgery among Females: A Media Literacy Training Intervention

INTRODUCTION The present study examined the favorable attitude of a sample of female university students regarding elective cosmetic surgery, body dysmorphic disorder, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction following a media literacy training intervention. METHODS This study was a quasi-experimental type. The study sample included 140 female university students who were allocated to either the intervention (n=70) or the control group (n=70). Attitude toward cosmetic surgery, body dysmorphic disorder, self-esteem and, body satisfaction was measured in both groups before the intervention and 4 weeks later. Four media literacy training sessions were conducted over 4 weeks for the intervention group. The data was analyzed through analysis of covariance, student's paired-samples t test, and Pearson correlation. RESULTS Our findings showed that favorable attitude, body dysmorphic disorder and body dissatisfaction scores were significantly lower (p<0.05) in the intervention group than the control group. Furthermore, self-esteem score increased significantly in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS Our results underscores the importance of media literacy intervention in decreasing female's favorable attitude towards elective cosmetic surgery, body dysmorphic disorder and body dissatisfaction as well as increasing self-esteem.