Motivations for Seeking Bariatric Surgery: The Importance of Health Professionals and Social Networks

Abstract

Objective:

To examine Australian patients’ motivations for seeking bariatric surgery.

Background:

The reasons for seeking bariatric surgery are incompletely understood. This information is needed to inform health-service planning and therapeutic decisions.

Methods:

Ten focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically.

Results:

Thirty-two women and 17 men (mean age 55 years; range 23–72) who had received or were waitlisted for publicly- or privately funded bariatric surgery engaged in the study. Novel findings highlighted the importance of other bariatric surgery recipients, health professionals’ recommendations (e.g., bariatric surgeons, medical specialists, and general practitioners), the media (e.g., televisions shows on bariatric surgery), and having private health insurance. We also confirmed previous findings that people seek surgery for physiological and psychological health, and because of previous failed weight loss attempts and significant others (e.g., wanting to live longer for children).

Conclusion:

Many individual, societal and environmental factors influence people to seek bariatric surgery. Exposure to recipients of bariatric surgery and recommendations made by health professionals appear to be common factors prompting a surgical pathway not previously reported. Bariatric surgery uptake may spread in social networks, which has growing implications for health service planning as more people seek this pathway.

Introduction

The provision of bariatric surgery has increased worldwide^1,2 with data from 49 countries indicating that Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) are the most common bariatric surgeries performed (45%, 37%, and 10%, respectively).¹ In Australia, the provision of bariatric surgery has also grown with LAGB and sleeve gastrectomies now the most common procedures conducted.^3,4 As seen internationally, the uptake of bariatric surgery in Australia is mostly by females, but unlike some other nations (e.g., United Kingdom) most bariatric surgery in Australia is privately funded.^3–5

Previous studies investigating why people seek bariatric surgery have used either questionnaires^6–9 or in-depth interviews.^10–15 These studies found that health, quality of life, physical capacity, psychological factors, employment prospects, and recommendations made by others (the details of which were not reported⁹) were motivating factors. One of these studies also investigated the influence of appearance, medical conditions, physical fitness, health concerns, embarrassment, and physical limitations on weight outcomes 1–3 years postsurgery and found no effect.⁶ Results from a recent questionnaire study indicated that web-based information may also mediate the decision to have surgery, thus providing evidence that extrinsically oriented factors could also influence people to have bariatric surgery.¹⁶

Given that individual, social, and environmental factors can contribute to weight gain, it is plausible that many factors of varying contexts may also influence the decision to have surgery.¹⁷ We used a focus group method to discover whether other motivating factors exist undetected through methods used in previous studies. Further, to extend on previous studies we also sought to determine whether motivations for seeking surgery differ between those waiting for and those who had received surgery, by surgery funding type (private versus public) and to more deeply explore differences between women and men. Understanding why people have bariatric surgery is important to better ensure that patient assessment and treatment plans consider patient expectations and needs.

Methods

This study was conducted in Tasmania, an island state of Australia, which has two public hospitals and three private hospitals that conduct publicly- and privately funded bariatric surgery (principally LAGB) respectively. Over 4500 LAGB surgeries occurred in Tasmania between July 2003 and 2013 (predominantly in the private sector), the highest rate percapita in Australia.¹⁸

Design

Semi-structured focus groups were conducted, with each no longer than 1.5 h in duration. The focus groups were same-sexed and separated by surgery funding type and whether participants were waitlisted for or had undergone surgery to explore potential differences in motivations for surgery in these distinct patient groups. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Recruitment

The study was advertised in the Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, three state newspapers, and through radio interview. Using a stratified and randomized approach, letters were sent to publicly funded LAGB recipients (n = 127) and those on the public waitlist (n = 185) by the Department of Health and Human Services (through author M.H.) and to privately funded recipients of LAGB (n = 180) by another author (S.W., bariatric surgeon). Additionally, S.W. provided interested and eligible patients with the study's information sheet. To ensure confidentiality, identifying details of participants were not shared between investigators.

Procedure

At initial contact, prospective participants were provided with an overview of the study. Information was collected on the general demographic (e.g., age and highest level of education) and clinical characteristics (e.g., weight and height, time since surgery, diabetes status) of those who expressed interest in participating. This information informed subsequent purposive sampling.

One of the authors (M.S.) assisted or led all focus groups to enhance consistency. The discussion schedule focused on the reasons for taking a surgical pathway and how participants had become aware of the availability of bariatric surgery. The schedule was informed by a review of the literature and consultation with public health experts, policy makers, primary and tertiary health service professionals with experience in the management of obesity, qualitative and quantitative researchers, and those with lived experience of obesity. Six focus groups were held in Hobart (the largest city in Tasmania with a hospital operating at the highest teaching and referral level) and four were held in Launceston (a smaller regional city with an accredited teaching hospital). Each focus group included a maximum of 10 participants.¹⁹ Where interest to participate exceeded capacity (e.g., female recipients of privately funded bariatric surgery) invited participants were selected to ensure a mix of demographic (e.g., area of residence) and clinical characteristics (e.g., time since surgery, experience of surgery related complications, weight loss, and health outcomes).

Data analysis

The focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and de-identified. Descriptive and interpretive thematic analysis was conducted using the software NVivo 10 (QSR International, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia). Other investigators also familiar with the transcripts confirmed the emerging themes through the process of team coding. All quotes cited below are from participants. An audit trail was kept for the project that included transcripts, question schedules, memos, notes on research team meetings, a project logbook, and reflective notes.

Results

One hundred and forty-one adults over 18-years-old who had received or were waiting for bariatric surgery expressed interest in participating in the study. Ten focus groups were conducted between August and October 2014, which included three focus groups for women (mean age 53.5, range 30–72) and two for men (mean age 59.0, range 34–69) who had received privately funded LAGB (n = 32); one focus group for women (mean age 47.8, range 23–66) and two for men (mean age 58.3, range 41–66) who had received publicly funded LAGB (n = 9); and two focus groups for women (mean age 55.0, range 46–63) and one for men (mean age 50, range 39–60) who were on the waitlist for publicly funded LAGB (n = 8). One focus group for men included those who had received either publicly- or privately funded LAGB. Additional focus groups were not conducted because data analysis during the period in which the focus groups were conducted and after the 10th focus group indicated that data saturation had been achieved. A summary of the clinical and demographic characteristics of participants (n = 49) is provided in Table 1.

Table 1.

Participant Characteristics (N = 49)

Characteristic
Age (years)
Mean (range)	55 (23–72)
Sex
Female n (%)	32 (65)
Education
Completed year 12 or less n (%)	19 (39)
Current BMI (kg/m²)^a
Mean (range)	36 (21–64)
Maximum BMI (kg/m²)^a
Mean (range)	46 (32–68)
Surgery funding type
Private n (%)	32 (65)
Time since primary surgery (years)
Mean (range)	6 (0–31)
Time on waitlist (years)^b
Mean (range)	5 (2–7)

Self-reported; one missing because participant did not know height.

Participants currently waitlisted for publicly funded bariatric.

BMI, body mass index.

Participants indicated a preference for the term “overweight” when describing their bodies, which is consistent with the literature.²⁰ Therefore, despite differences in body mass index between participants, the term overweight was used in the focus groups.

Reasons for seeking bariatric surgery

Health

Seeking bariatric surgery to improve health or to prevent ill-health was a common theme across all focus groups–“I've got diabetes type 2 and I wanted to get rid of it (private, female). Participants discussed having surgery to prevent or improve type 2 diabetes mellitus, or to improve such conditions as high blood pressure, reflux, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea, or heart disease. Some participants felt that having bariatric surgery was going to be the difference between life and death—“But it was just health; simple as that. I had to have it done, or I was dead” (private, male).

A few participants talked about family members dying prematurely (in their 40s or 50s) and how this had motivated them to seek surgery–“So he [his father] had heart problems and died obese, and all these family things that were going wrong so it was obviously going to happen to me too, so I done something about it” (private, male).

The emotional impact of excess weight

Although most participants described being primarily motivated to have surgery because of health reasons, for some the main reason appeared to be related to the emotional impact of their weight. This theme was more commonly discussed by women—“I couldn't continue to be the way I was, because of the way I felt about myself and the way that other people felt about me… I had no secondary health issues to address–that wasn't the reason at all” (private, female).

A few participants said that reaching a certain weight acted as a trigger to seek surgery—“three figures on the scales, that's pretty you know, hairy” (private, female). Both men and women talked about perceptions of their physical appearance and how this prompted seeking surgery. One participant said the trigger for him was “purely cosmetic” (private, male). Another said he was considering surgery before he had developed diabetes “cause I was sick of being big. Sick of being scrutinised when I walked down the street” (waiting list, male). Others talked about a history of fluctuating weight and one participant described the emotional impact of this—“It became an illness–or it did become an illness for me trying to go up and down. I did go down very quickly but I'd go up twice as much, and twice as fast. And that seesawing for me was a mental illness” (private, female).

Words such as “guilt,” “worrying,” “disgusting” and “desperate” were used to describe how some participants felt about their overweight state—“You've got to be desperate to cut yourself open and then not be able to eat normally for the rest of your life” (waiting list, female). One participant said she did not want to get up in the morning and that she ate more worrying about her situation. Another felt that her chances of finding a husband to have a baby with would improve if she lost weight. One participant talked about pursuing surgery to lose weight to feel authentic in her professional role in community health—“How do I go out there when I'm obese, and tell other people how to lose weight and how to do the things themselves. So that was my turning point” (private, female).

Mobility

Several participants talked about mobility issues prompting a surgical pathway. Activities of daily living such as walking, dressing, cutting toenails, or picking things up from the floor had become problematic for some because of their weight–“The weight on me belly is putting too much pressure on me back. And if I drop something on the floor, it's been known to stay there a week before I can bend down and pick it up” (waitlist, female). Some said that they could no longer engage in activities they had previously enjoyed (e.g., playing sport or walking with the family)–“you'd go out for a walk, and when they [the children] were little it used to be, “Oh, well we can't go too far because of the children.” And as they got older it was, “Oh actually we can't go too far because of mum” (private, female).

Failed weight loss attempts

Across all focus groups there was discussion about numerous failed weight loss attempts. Participants talked about trying many things (sometimes repeatedly) such as dieting (including commercial diets), exercise, diet pills, protein shakes, getting a dog to walk, and hypnosis. Sometimes the interventions were effective but not into the longer term–“I was at the end of my tether. Tried all the diets; didn't work” (private, female). Some participants talked about not being able to stop over-eating—“I just couldn't not overeat” (public, male).

Given the failed weight loss attempts, some participants felt that bariatric surgery was their only option–“I don't think there is any other alternative [New speaker: No I don't either-] ‘cause I'm sure we've all been on diets, we've all done exercise, we've all listened to the dieticians” (public, female) and “…how do I actually physically restrict what I'm eating and exercising to actually be half of what was standing looking at you at that point. And it was just too overwhelming” (private, female).

Significant others (family and close friends)

There was discussion within nearly all focus groups about significant others (or the prospect of a significant other) directly or indirectly impacting the decision to have surgery. Three men talked about how their partners had encouraged them to have surgery—“a friend of mine had, had a lap-band so my wife said you know, “Give it a try” (private, male). Another said that because his wife was considering bariatric surgery he thought he would do the same. While one participant added that peer pressure influenced him—“Plus all my mates would go off–get stuck into me about the weight” (private, male). One participant said that his brother weighing over 200 kg had shocked him and when he reached 200 kg he vowed, “I won't get any bigger…No way” (public, male).

Two women talked about having surgery to lose weight to improve their chances of becoming pregnant–“I just wanted a baby so desperately I was prepared to do anything” (private, female). A desire to be around for children and grandchildren motivated some participants to have surgery, a theme that was mostly discussed by women—“I'm going to miss out on my grandson growing up… and I just thought I have to do something” (private, female). For some participants having the capacity to be physically active with children was particularly important to them—“I wanted to be more active in being able to do things with him [his son] as he grow up” (public, male).

Other bariatric surgery recipients

Across most focus groups there was discussion about how others who had successfully lost weight as a result of bariatric surgery had prompted their decision to take a surgical pathway—“I was inspired by a much younger girl that had lost all her weight through having a lap-band” (private, female). Women in the waitlist groups used adjectives such as “amazing,” “fantastic,” “nice and slim” to describe how some of these people looked to them because of their weight loss. Two participants said the experience of bariatric surgery had been described to them as the “best thing” (waitlist, female) they had done in their lives. One participant said “It was like a revelation” (waitlist, female) when she observed her friend's reduced appetite subsequent to bariatric surgery.

Some participants said that family members who were recipients of successful bariatric surgery had prompted them to have surgery—“My daughter had it done before me so I watched her for about a year as the weight started to fall off her. And after that I thought, “Right, I'm going to give this a go” (private, female).

Another participant said her mother experienced serious complications from a sleeve gastrectomy—“I thought she was going to die”(private, female), but this appeared to influence her choice of bariatric surgery procedure (preferring LAGB because of having more “control”) rather than deterring her from having surgery.

A few participants talked about their expanding network of bariatric surgery recipients. There were also a number of participants who had inspired or prompted others to have surgery following their own (e.g., family, friends and others in their community). One participant said that her experience had motivated her hairdresser to have surgery and a male participant said that a few of his friends had followed his lead—“If you've had one we better bloody well have one”(private, male). Another participant's impression was that the “big people” watch you “and then if it's successful they want to sort of be part of it themselves” (public, male).

Health professionals

One participant said she had first heard about bariatric surgery through a diabetes educator. Others said it was through their GP that they first learnt about bariatric surgery and some had been encouraged by their GP to have it for weight loss and health reasons (e.g., diabetes)—“… it all come down to the doctor made a bet with me when I had my annual check-ups, he said if you don't lose any weight this year you've got to have lap-band and that's exactly what–I lost the bet and did that” (private, male).

Some participants said that they went to their GP to discuss having bariatric surgery and it was because of their GP's sanction that they continued with this pathway—“Yep, go for it” (private, female) and “I think you've made a really wise decision” (private, female). One participant said that initially his GP was not supportive but later changed their mind–“And the whole thing just changed completely from the first you know–“It's your fault for not going on a diet,” to “Yeah, okay have a lap-band” (private, male).

A few participants said that they had attended information sessions conducted by a bariatric surgeon, which appeared to influence their decision. One participant stated “that was just so refreshing the way that he was explaining to me how it wasn't my fault. I'd always felt that it was because I was eating all the wrong food and not doing enough exercise. And while that was probably a contributing factor, it wasn't really the whole story” (private, male).

Other medical specialists (e.g., endocrinologists, cardiologists, and rheumatologists) had influenced some participants to have bariatric surgery by providing information or initiating referral–“but my real trigger was a specialist, an endocrinologist actually that I'd see, and she referred me to the surgeon, and it went from there” (private, female). For others weight loss was necessary to have further surgeries (e.g., orthopedic, cardiac, or gynaecological)—“There was problems with my knees. The surgeon that I had for my knees kept saying to me, “You have to lose weight before I can do the surgery on your knees.” [New speaker: Oh yeah, just like that] And it was like, “How am I going to do that?” You know, I done weightwatchers, I done Jenny Craig, I done you know all the stuff that was around at the time” (private, females).

Other factors

Several participants said they initially learnt about bariatric surgery through media sources, particularly television but also newspaper advertisements. Two participants said that they discussed the option of bariatric surgery with their GP after seeing a related television show. Further, having private health insurance seemed to facilitate the decision to seek bariatric surgery for some participants and how quickly the procedure could be performed appeared to be a factor that may influence the decision to go through with the surgery—“Well I want to get it done as soon as I can otherwise I'm going to change my mind.” And it was a bit like the Thursday or Friday, and he said, “We can do it next week for you” (private, male).

Discussion

Our findings demonstrated that there are individual, social, and environmental factors that can influence the decision to seek bariatric surgery beyond those previously published. Of novel importance was the influence of health professionals and a participant's social network (e.g., other recipients of bariatric surgery). This focus group study has also provided insights as to why motivations for seeking surgery can differ between the sexes as previously identified through questionnaires.^6,9 For example, women tended to talk more about the emotional impact of excess weight and the desire to lose weight for the sake of children or grandchildren. It is also possible that these sex differences contribute to the greater uptake of bariatric surgery by females.⁵

A recurrent theme across the focus groups was how other recipients of bariatric surgery had influenced participants to take the same pathway and also the effect participants had on others to seek surgery subsequent to their own. This suggests that the uptake of surgery may be spreading in social networks. The spread of health-related behaviors or outcomes within social networks has been demonstrated in the literature, such as smoking²¹ and marijuana use,²² suicidal thoughts and attempts,²³ and obesity.²⁴ It is likely that health service use would also spread within social networks but this relationship has seldom been investigated in the literature.^25,26 This is an area ripe for research given the implications for health service planning.

As previously discussed, one study has investigated the relationship between primary motivating factors and weight outcomes 1–3 years postsurgery, finding no effect.⁶ Our results highlighted that the decision to have surgery was often complex, and may be influenced by a combination of factors beyond those considered primary. Whether these factors collectively or differentially impact surgical outcomes warrants investigation.

Health professionals can use knowledge of the factors motivating patients to have bariatric surgery to shape their assessment and treatment plans for patients. For example, a patient motivated to have surgery to avoid a family history of premature death from heart disease (as evidenced under “Health”) may benefit from regular cardiovascular risk assessment postsurgery—an approach that may enhance patient adherence to follow-up care.²⁷ Additionally, findings from two randomized control trials demonstrated that weight loss interventions (nonsurgical) informed by knowledge of the reasons why people are seeking to lose weight, can achieve significantly greater weight loss compared with controls.^28,29 Whether improved weight loss would occur following bariatric surgery using similar approaches is an area requiring investigation.

Finally, knowing why a patient is having surgery can also assist health professionals to moderate patient expectations as necessary. For example, if a patient has sought surgery because of the success of another surgical recipient, the patient may expect similar results without accounting for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics and psychosocial circumstances (as evidenced under “Other bariatric surgery recipients”).

Limitations

Given the study design we cannot infer the prevalence of these individual motivations at a population level. While data saturation was achieved by the end of the 10th focus group, it is possible other motivations for seeking surgery exist and there may have been recall error for some participants based on the length of time since surgery (Table 1). Although motivations for seeking surgery appeared similar between surgery funding type and those on the waiting list, meaningful comparisons could not be made between the groups because of the low number of participants who were on the waiting list for or who had received publicly funded bariatric surgery. This is an area requiring further research. Additionally, the motivations for seeking bariatric surgery may differ among people between countries and surgery type. Although it was beyond the scope of our study to investigate this, our findings suggest that such differences are unlikely, because we found that the reasons people seek surgery are similar to that reported in Europe and the United States irrespective of surgery type.^{7,8,11–13,15} Furthermore, there are still significant numbers of LAGB being conducted in Australia and elsewhere (e.g., US/Canada, France and Israel¹). Taken together, this suggests our findings are internationally relevant.

Conclusion

Many individual, societal, and environmental factors can influence the decision to have bariatric surgery. Of key importance to health service planners is that the uptake of bariatric surgery may spread in social networks, the implications of which will intensify as more people have bariatric surgery. Further, health professionals should know why patients are seeking bariatric surgery to better understand and manage patient expectations. The factors that motivate people to have surgery can also be used to inform clinical assessments and treatment plans and may help to foster patient adherence to follow-up care and improve outcomes.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Project Grant (APP1076899). Ethics approval was granted by the University of Tasmania's Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee. We would like to thank Ms. Tessa Batt for transcribing the focus group discussions and Mr. Zahid Desai for his assistance with the recruitment of recipients of and those waitlisted for publicly funded bariatric surgery.

Author Disclosure Statement

A.V. is supported by a NHMRC Research Fellowship. M.H. is an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services Tasmania and as such does not receive direct personal funding from any of the sources declared above. M.H. has been involved in making policy decisions and funding allocations for the provision of bariatric surgery in Tasmanian public hospitals. No competing financial interests exist.

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