History of sexual abuse among bariatric surgery candidates

Assessing Sexual Abuse/Attack Histories with Bariatric Surgery Patients

“…The attained rates were compared to previously reported studies that used BSPs as well as to studies using obese, non-BSPs and studies using the general population. Additionally, similar to previous findings, it is hypothesized that BSPs who disclose a history of sexual abuse/attack will be more likely to disclose histories of physical abuse, psychological problems, psychological treatment, psychiatric treatment, psychiatric hospitalization, and suicidal ideation (Clark et al, 2007;Grilo et al, 2005;Gustafson et al, 2006;Wildes et …”

“…One reason for the discrepancy of these results is the lack of standardized assessment techniques. When assessing sexual abuse/attack histories in BSPs, researchers have used divergent techniques, including face-toface interviews (Clark et al, 2007), questionnaires (Gustafson et al, 2006), single questions about sexual abuse/attack (Larsen & Geenen, 2005), multiple questions covering a wide range of sexual abuse/attack experiences (Gustafson et al, 2006), use of instruments with known psychometric properties (Gustafson et al, 2006), ad hoc research instruments (Clark et al, 2007), assessments that include adult sexual attacks (Larsen & Geenen, 2005), and assessments that limit the sexual abuse/attack definition to childhood experiences (Clark et al, 2007). The difficulties in accurately assessing sexual abuse/attack prevalence rates are not limited to research using BSPs.…”

Exploring Perceptions of Barriers, Facilitators, and Motivators to Physical Activity Among Female Bariatric Patients

“…Studies suggest that approximately 17 percent of women seeking bariatric treatment report a history of childhood sexual abuse (Gustafson et al 2006). History of sexual abuse is also associated with development of obesity and binge eating disorders Sarwer 2004, Noll et al 2007).…”

Childhood Maltreatment and Psychiatric Morbidity in Bariatric Surgery Candidates

“…Prospective longitudinal research using general population samples has documented that a history of childhood maltreatment is associated with increased risk for the development of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder [2]. Nevertheless, previous work examining the clinical correlates of childhood maltreatment in bariatric surgery candidates generally has failed to find an association with eating disorder symptoms [9,10] (but see Gustafson et al [12]). One explanation for these discrepant findings may be that eating disorders are difficult to assess in seriously obese individuals seeking bariatric surgery.…”

“…Although some research has indicated that a history of childhood abuse is associated with increased rates of psychopathology and psychiatric treatment seeking [11][12][13], other studies have found few differences between bariatric surgery candidates with and without reported histories of childhood maltreatment on measures of psychological functioning [9,10]. These inconsistencies may be due, in part, to methodological limitations of the extant literature including non-standardized assessments of childhood maltreatment [11][12][13] and the use of self-report questionnaires to document current and lifetime psychiatric symptomatology [9,10,12,13].…”