Biomaterial Database

The physically disabled woman's experience of self. 2003

Helena M de Klerk, and Lucy Ampousah

Department of Consumer Science, University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. deklerk@scientia.up.ac.za

OBJECTIVE With the Symbolic Interactionism as background it can be argued that physical disabilities and problems with personal appearance may have a negative influence on the physically disabled woman's social-psychological well-being. METHODS In order to explore the physically disabled woman's experience of Self, two unstructured interviews were conducted with 40 randomly selected disabled women between the ages of 21 years and 60 years. RESULTS It was clear that others in general play an important role in the physically disabled woman's experience of Self. She not only compares herself with others in general, but also desires feedback from them. She accepts her disability but feels that her physical disability results in other people making negative inferences about her. CONCLUSIONS This has a negative influence on her Public Self, including her presentation of herself to others and their perceptions of her as a person, as well as her experience of the total Self.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007407	Interviews as Topic	Works about conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes works about school admission or job interviews.	Group Interviews,Interviewers,Interviews, Telephone,Oral History as Topic,Group Interview,Interview, Group,Interview, Telephone,Interviewer,Interviews, Group,Telephone Interview,Telephone Interviews
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D005260	Female		Females
D006233	Disabled Persons	Persons with physical or mental disabilities that affect or limit their activities of daily living and that may require special accommodations.	Handicapped,People with Disabilities,Persons with Disabilities,Physically Challenged,Physically Handicapped,Physically Disabled,Disabilities, People with,Disabilities, Persons with,Disability, Persons with,Disabled Person,Disabled, Physically,Handicapped, Physically,People with Disability,Person, Disabled,Persons with Disability,Persons, Disabled
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D012649	Self Concept	Persons' view of themselves.	Self Esteem,Self Perception,Self Confidence,Self-Perception,Concept, Self,Confidence, Self,Esteem, Self,Perception, Self,Perceptions, Self,Self Esteems,Self Perceptions,Self-Perceptions
D012917	Social Adjustment	Adaptation of the person to the social environment. Adjustment may take place by adapting the self to the environment or by changing the environment. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996).	Adjustment, Social,Adjustments, Social,Social Adjustments
D015203	Reproducibility of Results	The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.	Reliability and Validity,Reliability of Result,Reproducibility Of Result,Reproducibility of Finding,Validity of Result,Validity of Results,Face Validity,Reliability (Epidemiology),Reliability of Results,Reproducibility of Findings,Test-Retest Reliability,Validity (Epidemiology),Finding Reproducibilities,Finding Reproducibility,Of Result, Reproducibility,Of Results, Reproducibility,Reliabilities, Test-Retest,Reliability, Test-Retest,Result Reliabilities,Result Reliability,Result Validities,Result Validity,Result, Reproducibility Of,Results, Reproducibility Of,Test Retest Reliability,Validity and Reliability,Validity, Face