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New FACE-Q scales address patient expectations, psychosocial distress

Two new scales developed as part of the FACE-Q patient-reported outcome instrument address patient expectations and psychosocial distress related to cosmetic decision making, according to study results published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal.

The Expectations scale was designed with statements that patients could use to describe how they expect their appearance and quality of life to change after a cosmetic procedure. The Psychosocial Distress scale was designed with statements to measure appearance-related concerns.

“People coming forward for cosmetic surgery can have inappropriate expectations and experience appearance-related psychosocial distress,” the researchers wrote. “Cosmetic practitioners may benefit from the use of short, clinically meaningful scales in the clinical encounter to identify patients who may require additional education and attention.”

Pretreatment patients aged 18 years or older and consulting for any type of surgical and/or nonsurgical facial aesthetic treatment completed the Expectations scale in a FACE-Q field test, whereas those seeking cosmetic body contouring surgery completed the Psychosocial Distress scale in a BODY-Q field test.

Two hundred seventy-nine patients seeking facial aesthetic surgery and 90 patients seeking body contouring completed the scales. Mean age of the combined groups was 42.6 years (range, 18-85 years; 78% female; 70% white).

Overall results showed that participants who reported higher expectations also were found to have more psychosocial distress (P < .001). In the facial aesthetic group, lower scores on the FACE-Q Satisfaction with Facial Appearance scale correlated with higher scores on the Expectations (P = .001) and Psychosocial Distress (P < .001) scales. In the body contouring group, lower scores on the BODY-Q Satisfaction with Body scale correlated with higher scores on the Psychosocial Distress scale (P = .003), according to the findings.

Rasch measurement theory findings for the two scales supported their reliability and validity, the researchers wrote. – by Talitha Bennett

Disclosures: Three of the researchers are co-developers of the FACE-Q and receive a share of license revenues as royalties. Please see the full study for the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.