Bariatric Surgery Regain and Long-Term Weight Loss among Women: Self-Efficacy, Social Support and Health Promotion Lifestyle Behaviors

Abstract

Although bariatric surgery appears to produce success in a short period of time immediately after surgery, weight regain over time in this population cannot be ignored.Understanding the relationship between potential psychosocial predicting post-surgical variables influencing bariatric surgery may prevent long-term weight regain. The purpose of this research is to examine self-efficacy, social support, and lifestyle habits and their relationship to long term weight loss and regain in women post bariatric surgery. Weight regain is observed as early as 18 months to 2 years after bariatric surgery. Patients face challenges sustaining the dramatic lifestyle changes required to ensure positive long-term weight loss.A descriptive correlational research design was used to examine relationships among the variables. The demographic data of the women were reviewed for any correlations with reported regain. There were three independent variables explored in this research: self-efficacy, health promotion lifestyle, and social support. The dependent variable in the study was weight regain. The study was advertised for four weeks in a 'bariatric women only' Facebook forum and on the Obesity Help website. A solicitation email was placed on these sites containing five inclusion criteria: adult, female, able to read and write English, Internet users, and underwent bariatric surgery with greater than 18 months or more post-operative time. The research was conducted entirely online using the web-based survey platform SurveyMonkey.In total, 123/135 participants (91.1%) reported weight regain and 12/135 (8.8%) reported no weight regain. There was a strong negative correlation between the two variables WELQ and regain p<0.001 with high scores self-efficacy associated with lower reported weight regain. The health promotion lifestyle factors and the perceived social support factors were nonsignificant at the .001 level of significance for a two-sided tailed test.Participants reporting the ability to resist eating in a variety of situations and settings were more likely to have less weight regain. These results suggest developing and teaching bariatric surgery patients to increase their self-efficacy could play a significant role in decreasing the chances of weight regain over time.