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Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence

Background and objectives: One important forensic activity is the assessment of aesthetic injuries where expert criteria and analysis are insufficiently outlined due to the subjective elements related to the traumatized victim. Unaesthetic morphological changes may occur due to various circumstances...

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Autores principales: Voiță-Mekeres, Florica, Buhaș, Camelia Liana, Mekeres, Gabriel Mihai, Tudoran, Cristina, Racovita, Mariana, Faur, Cosmin Ioan, Tudoran, Mariana, Abu-Awwad, Ahmed, Voiță, Nuțu Cristian, Maghiar, Teodor Andrei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34828487
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111440
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author Voiță-Mekeres, Florica
Buhaș, Camelia Liana
Mekeres, Gabriel Mihai
Tudoran, Cristina
Racovita, Mariana
Faur, Cosmin Ioan
Tudoran, Mariana
Abu-Awwad, Ahmed
Voiță, Nuțu Cristian
Maghiar, Teodor Andrei
author_facet Voiță-Mekeres, Florica
Buhaș, Camelia Liana
Mekeres, Gabriel Mihai
Tudoran, Cristina
Racovita, Mariana
Faur, Cosmin Ioan
Tudoran, Mariana
Abu-Awwad, Ahmed
Voiță, Nuțu Cristian
Maghiar, Teodor Andrei
author_sort Voiță-Mekeres, Florica
collection PubMed
description Background and objectives: One important forensic activity is the assessment of aesthetic injuries where expert criteria and analysis are insufficiently outlined due to the subjective elements related to the traumatized victim. Unaesthetic morphological changes may occur due to various circumstances committed under the Penal Code, resulting in permanent unaesthetic morphological scarring. Considering that most of the existing scales for the assessment of aesthetic prejudices refer only to morphometric changes, our aim was to create a modern method for the evaluation of aesthetic damage that also considers its social and psychological consequences. Materials and Methods: In this study, we developed the Mekereș Psychosocial Internalization Scale (MPIS), which proposes a clear boundary between the presence or absence of aesthetic damage. The traumatized person is evaluated after a minimum of six months (in the case of an average scar, necessary for defining the character of the scar) to assess changes in the physiognomy or even alterations in the victim’s aesthetic perception of their own body. Our study was conducted on 103 patients with scars, and the results were compared to 101 controls (subjects without scars). Results: Individuals with scars have a distorted perception (compared to controls) of the support provided by significant people [t (202) = 2.473; p = 0.01]. Hypothetically, they will most likely exhibit a nuanced socio-cognitive and psycho-emotional vulnerability that may be the source of future dysfunctions. The fidelity of the MPIS scale was estimated by employing Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, resulting in a value of 0.934 (15 items). The exploratory factorial analysis with Varimax rotation mode sustains a single dominant factor, indicating a good internal consistency. The results of this study provide evidence regarding the psychosocial or psychometric worthiness of MPIS. Conclusions: MPIS can be used for research and as an instrument to assess aesthetic damage or disfigurement by forensic physicians and lawyers.
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spelling pubmed-86237742021-11-27 Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence Voiță-Mekeres, Florica Buhaș, Camelia Liana Mekeres, Gabriel Mihai Tudoran, Cristina Racovita, Mariana Faur, Cosmin Ioan Tudoran, Mariana Abu-Awwad, Ahmed Voiță, Nuțu Cristian Maghiar, Teodor Andrei Healthcare (Basel) Article Background and objectives: One important forensic activity is the assessment of aesthetic injuries where expert criteria and analysis are insufficiently outlined due to the subjective elements related to the traumatized victim. Unaesthetic morphological changes may occur due to various circumstances committed under the Penal Code, resulting in permanent unaesthetic morphological scarring. Considering that most of the existing scales for the assessment of aesthetic prejudices refer only to morphometric changes, our aim was to create a modern method for the evaluation of aesthetic damage that also considers its social and psychological consequences. Materials and Methods: In this study, we developed the Mekereș Psychosocial Internalization Scale (MPIS), which proposes a clear boundary between the presence or absence of aesthetic damage. The traumatized person is evaluated after a minimum of six months (in the case of an average scar, necessary for defining the character of the scar) to assess changes in the physiognomy or even alterations in the victim’s aesthetic perception of their own body. Our study was conducted on 103 patients with scars, and the results were compared to 101 controls (subjects without scars). Results: Individuals with scars have a distorted perception (compared to controls) of the support provided by significant people [t (202) = 2.473; p = 0.01]. Hypothetically, they will most likely exhibit a nuanced socio-cognitive and psycho-emotional vulnerability that may be the source of future dysfunctions. The fidelity of the MPIS scale was estimated by employing Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, resulting in a value of 0.934 (15 items). The exploratory factorial analysis with Varimax rotation mode sustains a single dominant factor, indicating a good internal consistency. The results of this study provide evidence regarding the psychosocial or psychometric worthiness of MPIS. Conclusions: MPIS can be used for research and as an instrument to assess aesthetic damage or disfigurement by forensic physicians and lawyers. MDPI 2021-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8623774/ /pubmed/34828487 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111440 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Voiță-Mekeres, Florica
Buhaș, Camelia Liana
Mekeres, Gabriel Mihai
Tudoran, Cristina
Racovita, Mariana
Faur, Cosmin Ioan
Tudoran, Mariana
Abu-Awwad, Ahmed
Voiță, Nuțu Cristian
Maghiar, Teodor Andrei
Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title_full Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title_fullStr Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title_full_unstemmed Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title_short Mekeres’ Psychosocial Internalization Scale: A Scale for the Evaluation of Aesthetic Prejudice in Victims of Accidents and Violence
title_sort mekeres’ psychosocial internalization scale: a scale for the evaluation of aesthetic prejudice in victims of accidents and violence
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34828487
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111440
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