Effect of Mindful Self-Care Training on Body Image Concern and Self-Esteem of Patients Before and After Orthognathic Surgery

Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2025 Jul 24;30(4):553-560. doi: 10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_36_24. eCollection 2025 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background: Some studies among orthognathic surgery candidates revealed that the patients doing orthognathic surgery suffer from Body Image Concern (BIC) and impaired Self-Esteem (SE) before and after surgery. Despite the merits behind orthognathic surgery, self-care training in such patients seems logical. The present study was performed to outline the effect of Mindful Self-Care Training on Body Image Concern and Self-Esteem of Patients before and after Orthognathic Surgery.

Materials and methods: This semiexperimental study with a pretest-posttest design was conducted in Babol-based Shahid Beheshti Hospital in 2020. The eligible patients, who were referred from the Orthognathic Surgery Clinic of Babol-located Shahid Beheshti Hospital, were conveniently divided into two 25-person groups. The BIC and SE were measured using the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI) and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI) before and after holding eight 90-minute mindful self-care training sessions (before surgery) and 3 months after surgery (follow-up) in the two groups. The data were analyzed at the significance level of 0.05 using the independent t-test and Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance (RM -ANOVA) by SPSS-26.

Results: The findings revealed that in the intervention group, the mean score of the overall BIC after training (before surgery) and follow-up (3 months after surgery) decreased. The independent t-test showed that the mean score of the overall BIC after training and follow-up was significantly different between the two groups (t48 = 1.68, p = 0.02) and (t48 = 3.64, p = 0.001), respectively. Also, the mean score of the SE increased after training and follow-up in the intervention group. The independent t-test indicated that the mean score of the SE after training and follow-up meaningfully differed between the two groups (t48 = 3.93, p < 0.001, t48 = 5.40, p < 0.001). The RM-ANOVA results displayed significant differences in the overall BIC and SE in the two groups over time (F (2,48) = 71.30, p < 0.001) and (F2,48 = 38.17, p < 0.001), respectively.

Conclusions: Considering the effects of mindful self-care training on the BIC and SE of the patients undergoing orthognathic surgery, it is proposed that presurgery mindful self-care training is useful and prevents common pre and postsurgery psychological problems among the patients as the orthognathic surgery candidates.

Keywords: Body image; orthognathic; patient; self-care; self-esteem; surgery.