The Hopes and Expectations of Weight Loss Surgery Candidates
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The working title for this piece of research is as follows: A Qualitative Study Exploring The Hopes and Expectations of Candidates for Weight Loss Surgery
IRAS ID
224510
Contact name
Barbara Mason
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 9 months, 29 days
Research summary
The prevalence of obesity has risen rapidly in recent years (WHO, 2016). With obesity, come challenges for mental and physical health, as well as considerable social discrimination and stigma and so understanding and reducing obesity is important (Gatineau & Dent 2011, Pull & Brownell, 2011 & Guh, Zhang & Bansback, 2009).
Weight loss surgery is currently the primary treatment for persistent morbid obesity but has variable outcomes (UK Bariatric Surgery Registry, 2014). There is a lack of consensus on what pre-surgical factors predict outcome or how some patients successfully change their health behaviours alongside the weight loss surgery, whilst others do not (Wimmelmann, Dela & Mortensen, 2013). Research suggests that how individuals conceptualise their health behaviour and it's anticipated consequences plays a key role in whether change is achieved (Ajzen, 1985 & Sarafino, 2006).
This study seeks to add to the understanding of health behaviour change in the context of bariatric surgery by exploring the expectations and hopes of those undertaking weight loss surgery, including how candidates arrived at their decision to pursue surgery, and how their expectations change over time through the process preceding surgery and following surgery.
Participants will be adults, aged 18 or over within the Obesity Service at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.
Qualitative interviews will be undertaken with participants at a time point prior to surgery. For those who consent to follow-up contact, further interviews will be conducted after the surgery to provide a longitudinal perspective of change over time. A thematic analysis will be used to analyse the interviews. It is anticipated that approximately 20 participants will be interviewed and that the interviews themselves will take approximately 1 hour. Data collection is expected to happen at two time points with first phase of the project completed by 2018, and the second completed the following year.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0318
Date of REC Opinion
28 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion