No abstract

This study investigated long-term impacts of whole-body scanning. A total of 91 women completed a retrospective online questionnaire. Quantitative data revealed that 31 (34%) reported greater body dissatisfaction since the scan, and only 6 (7%) reported increased satisfaction. Positive change in satisfaction was predicted by current body satisfaction but not by body mass index (BMI) at time of scanning or by age. BMI did not predict satisfaction with the scanner process or likelihood of being rescanned, though a longer gap between scanning and questionnaire completion predicted satisfaction with the process. Inductive thematic analysis of responses to an open-ended question suggested that although women were comfortable being scanned and wanted to see an accurate and objective view of their size and shape, they also felt threatened and vulnerable when seeing their bodies on the printed output. It is concluded that whole-body scanning should be used with caution, particularly with women with existing body concerns.

Whole-body scanning may enable maintenance or even acceleration of physical activity and healthy eating, but is unlikely to be useful in promoting initiation of these behaviours. Participants engaged in unhelpful body critique when viewing scans; scanning needs to be confined to contexts where support is provided, to avoid increasing body-related concerns.

The waist is considered as an important measurement point for clothing and represents part of a control section from which lower body garments hang and garments are often required to fit. However, unlike many measurement sites on the body the waist has no single landmark from which to reference it for a population. The non-contact nature of body scanning further complicates this, though automated measurement systems connected to body scanning have developed methods to determine the waist relative to surface geometry. Whilst body scanning provides an opportunity to analyse large volumes of data, there is limited knowledge of how differences in waist definitions using automated systems of measurement compare to waist placement with reference to accepted upper and lower limits. This work employed content analysis methods to understand existing clothing waist definitions and developed different waist definitions within automated measurement software of a TC2 scanner. Measurement extraction using this explorative set of definitions was undertaken on a sample of 106 females whose upper and lower waist limits had been determined through measurement. The data was then analysed to establish how the definitions compared to the waist height determined as the midpoint between the upper (lowest palpable rib) and lower (highest point of the right iliac crest) limits. It was possible to establish that proportional relationships between lengths that could help in defining waist placement and provide checks in automated extraction. As a result of this study a number of suitable waist definitions are proposed for use in the automated measurement software of body scanning technology.

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management100% Polyester TS-DrapeDtl TS-PltTunic NL-FCapeTea Main 100% Polyester Lining 100% Acetate Page 2 of 30 Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management fashion dresses whilst trying them on, enabled a detailed analysis that contributes new evidence to the debate around sizing practice, poor fit and its impact on body image and self-esteem.