Abstract
Background: Physical appearance is one of the first individual characteristics noticed by others. It cause body consciousness among individuals and their perception depends on other’s view. In today’s culture adults closely related to a drive of thinness Body image dissatisfaction, weight concern, eating problem, have become especially significant issues on college campuses, Universities with up to 90% of students reporting that they worry about body image. Different programs and university environment influences their perceptions and cause high level of objectified body consciousness.
Objectives: To assess the relationship between body consciousness level and educational programs among undergraduate students.
Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 287 students at New Campus of People University of Medical and Health Science for Women Nawabshah, All allied health science programs were included under the age group of 19 to 28 years with the consent of the students, Data were collected using a structured Scale based questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version 25. Frequency, Percentage, Mean, SE, SD and correlation test were applied to analyze the relationship.
Results: The mean age of students was 21.6±1.535 Years. Program status of the student from demographic information was significantly associated with negative correlation OBCS p-value <0.05 with r= -.124. Most of the students 207(73.9%) had high level of body consciousness and 23.6% had a moderate level and only 7(2.5%) were in low level. It has three subscales; Surveillance mean 33.98 high surveillance include how a person stays occupied with their body , performs body checking behaviors and looks at their body from an observer’s. The body shame mean 33.41 the high mean value specify the embarrassment a student feel for not fulfilling the ideal body standards, control belief score mean 32. this subscale explain the degree of perceived control a person has on her appearance, high mean indicate that students have a strong belief that their appearance can be controlled by putting efforts.
Conclusion: Findings of this study concluded that education programs influences the perceptions of the students regarding their body image and cause consciousness about the looks. It can be harmful if adults have highly over conscious. So, counseling, teaching and discussion about body consciousness and its impact on body and healthy lifestyle habits helps to control objectified body consciousness level and encourage adults to involve themselves in physical activities, sessions to develop self-confidence and self-worth.