Lee Juhun, Teo Irene, Guindani Michele, Reece Gregory P, Markey Mia K, Fingeret Michelle Cororve
a Electrical and Computer Engineering , The University of Texas at Austin , Austin , TX , USA.
Psychol Health Med. 2015;20(4):469-76. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2014.951371. Epub 2014 Aug 27.
Increasing attention is being given to developing quantitative measures of facial expression. This study used quantitative facial expression analysis to examine associations between smiling intensity and psychosocial functioning in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Smiling intensity of 95 HNC patients was measured using 48 quantitative measures calculated from facial photographs with and without a smile. We computed a composite smiling intensity score for each patient representing the degree of similarity to healthy controls. A lower composite score indicates that the person is less expressive, on average, than healthy controls. Patients also completed self-report measures assessing domains of body image and quality of life (QOL). Spearman rank correlations were computed to examine relationships between composite scores and psychosocial functioning. Composite scores were significantly correlated with multiple measures of body image and QOL. Specifically, decreased smiling intensity was associated with feelings of dissatisfaction with one's body, perceived negative social impact of body image, increased use of avoidance as a body image-coping strategy, reduced functional well-being, and greater head and neck cancer-specific issues. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate associations between an objectively quantified facial expression (i.e. smiling) and psychosocial functioning. Most previous studies have measured facial expression qualitatively. These findings indicate that smiling intensity may serve as an important clinical indicator of psychosocial well-being and warrants further clinical investigation.
对面部表情定量测量方法的开发正受到越来越多的关注。本研究采用面部表情定量分析方法，以检验头颈癌（HNC）患者的微笑强度与心理社会功能之间的关联。使用从有微笑和无微笑的面部照片计算得出的48项定量测量指标，对95名头颈癌患者的微笑强度进行了测量。我们为每位患者计算了一个综合微笑强度得分，该得分代表了与健康对照的相似程度。较低的综合得分表明，平均而言，该人的表现力低于健康对照。患者还完成了自我报告测量，评估身体形象和生活质量（QOL）领域。计算斯皮尔曼等级相关性，以检验综合得分与心理社会功能之间的关系。综合得分与身体形象和生活质量的多项测量指标显著相关。具体而言，微笑强度降低与对自己身体的不满情绪、身体形象的负面社会影响、作为身体形象应对策略的回避行为增加、功能幸福感降低以及更多头颈癌特异性问题相关。据我们所知，这是第一项证明客观量化的面部表情（即微笑）与心理社会功能之间存在关联的研究。此前大多数研究都是对面部表情进行定性测量。这些发现表明，微笑强度可能是心理社会幸福感的一个重要临床指标，值得进一步开展临床研究。
