Tropical Doctor > Volume 37, Number 4 > Pp. 241-244

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Assessment of the ideal body image of women in Accra, Ghana

Rosemary B Duda MD MPH  ¹   Naana Afua Jumah DPhil  ²   Allan G Hill PhD  ³   Joseph Seffah MB ChB  ⁴   Richard Biritwum MB ChB  ⁵

¹ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Surgery RW871, 330 Brookline Avenue;; ² Harvard Medical School;; ³ Department of Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA;; ⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and ; ⁵ Community Medicine, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

Correspondence to: Dr Rosemary B Duda rduda{at}caregroup.harvard.edu

The hypothesis tested in this study was that the 'traditional build' is the culturally valued body shape by Ghanaian women. Culturally sensitive figural stimuli were designed to assess the current body image (CBI) and the ideal body image (IBI) of Ghanaian women. The most frequently selected model for the CBI was one that represented a slightly overweight woman; the IBI selected was consistent with a representation of normal body mass index; and the least healthy image was that figure that represented morbidly obesity.

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