Bariatric Surgery Candidates: A Qualitative Study
Evaluating the research process:
Obesity and treatment meanings in bariatric surgery candidates
HCS 465
University of Phoenix
June 3, 2015
Once a research study has come to a closure, it is often reviewed by its peers. Research evaluation is a vital process that determines whether a program or study is effective and how effective. Research studies must be successful in its results or at least bring light to new knowledge. If it does neither, then not only would it not allowed to proceed, but also it would be a waste of resources. The study under evaluation is the article Obesity and Treatment Meanings in Bariatric Surgery Candidates: A Qualitative Study.
The research evaluation process consists of identification of the client, determining …show more content…
the purpose of the evaluation, determining the methodology, how the evaluation will be conducted, identifying the proponents of the contract, and how or who will be using the evaluation results. The client and often times the person who will be making use of the evaluation results is the decision maker, in this case study that could be the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team for the Treatment of Obesity. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand obesity from the view of someone who is morbidly obese and their understanding of treatment options for obesity (specifically bariatric surgery). The data collection method will be through recorded interviews verbatim to ensure correctness of individual answers and the data collected will be analyze through the use of a software program.
Obesity is a large problem in the United States.
Since 1980, the obesity epidemic has swept the US by storm. The US currently holds the highest percentage for population obesity when compared to other high income countries; even when it is compared to other countries (not just developed countries), it still hold ranks in the top tier. Previous studies about obesity were more of a quantitative nature, numerical sense; thus they lack the comprehension of the subject’s perception of obesity and its treatments. These studies showed that a source of distressed for obese individuals were related to contemporary culture, interpersonal and intimate problems, and difficulties in professional …show more content…
issues.
In the research article, the authors seek to understand the subject’s perception of obesity (meaning of obesity), how to cope with obesity, and the available treatments for the health issue, particularly with the use of bariatric surgery. The focus of this study is on the psychological phenomena between the morbidly obese and how bariatric surgery would change their lives. The ground analysis for this research study is that the phenomena comprehension must emerge from the data collected rather than from the notions that were formed by the researcher (da Silva and da Costa Maia, 2012). The study sample consisted of 30 individuals (20 women and 10 men) from a multidisciplinary treatment center with a mean age of 39.17 years and a mean body mass index of 47.5. All the participants had failed several previous attempts at trying to lose weight.
The results in this study identified three core processes: obesity, eating behavior, and treatment.
Obesity is understood as an internal problem that affects all three dimensions (personal, interpersonal, and professional). Eating behavior holds multiple important roles on different sides of the spectrum in the participant’s life. Not only does it play a role weight and health maintenance, but also plays a role as a coping strategy to deal with stressful events. When the individual is maintaining their weight they are perceived as having control; however, if they use eating as a coping strategy, it is perceived as a loss of control. Treatment, bariatric surgery in this case, is perceived as a miracle cure that will solve all of the participant’s life problems. The results of the data collected did increase the knowledge and understanding of how obese individuals view their obesity and how the perceive the treatments (bariatric surgery). One limitation of this research study is that all of the participants came from the same hospital. Another limitation is that the sample size was not large and diverse enough. Meaning that the results may only reflect that particular environment, so it does not give a proper representation of the general public. The article stated the additional longitudinal studies are needed to assess the relationship between weight loss, quality of life expectations, and long-term compliance and
outcomes.
Before research studies can be conducted, researchers have to keep in mind of ethical considerations. Ethical considerations are a list of regulations that help protect and ensure the safety of its human participants, and protects researchers from infringing upon any human rights. The ethical considerations involved for data collection involves ten principles. The first principle is voluntary consent. Voluntary consent refers to the documents that the individual sign that basically states that their participation is voluntary, there was no coercion involved, and is an informed decision prior to participating in an experiment. The next principles states that research experiments must bring forth beneficial results and knowledge for it to be testable, only qualified personnel are allowed to conduct experiments, and the degree of risk should not exceed humanitarian importance. These principles prevents unnecessary human testing and ensures that the researchers involved have the expertise and knowledge in that field of study. The following principles are similar; they state that human experiments should be based on animal research results and knowledge, all precautions should be taken, and all unnecessary harm should be avoided. These principles ensure that researchers are well aware of the possible risks of the subject being experimented, have taken all the necessary precautions, and have conduct multiple testing on nonhuman subjects to ensure that there is minimal risk involved. The following principles are also very similar and they ensure that possible disabling injury or death will not be a result of the experiment -- testing is not allowed if death or disabling injury is suspected as a possibility and testing must be terminated immediately if possible death or injury is suspected. In this study, informed consent for participation and interview recording were used and approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital of Braga. With a mean age of 39.17, the participants of the study were over the age of consent and able to give an informed consent.
The data collected in the study of the morbidly obese and bariatric surgery was collected by the use of interviews that lasted anywhere from twenty minutes to eighty minutes. The data collection and analysis were purposely interweaved so that the questions would reflect and check the emerging categories. The interview answers were then analyzed with an NVivo 8.0 software according to the constant comparative method. To ensure validity of the research, an independent researcher was consulted to act as an auditor throughout the data analysis process. Since the research was of a qualitative nature, there were no significant statistics found in the results. However, the results did indicate a concurrent thought that surgery was the best treatment option available.
In the conclusion, the results indicated that the majority of the participants felt that obesity was something that they could not change without the help of bariatric surgery, whether it is due to biological factors or eating behavior. Most of the participants viewed healthy eating as a huge sacrifice and described surgery as an equivalent to a miracle pill. In this study, it was essential that the participants understood that there were other treatments available for weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight, understood that bariatric surgery was not a cure all, and bariatric surgery did not always result in positive and simple outcomes. It was also stated that quantitative data should probably be included with qualitative studies in the future to provide a statistical analysis.
This research study sought to explore and understand the participants understanding of obesity and their comprehension of bariatric surgery along with their fears. For the most part though, the conclusions and the results are comparable. The results of the study indicated a better understanding of obesity among those who are morbidly obese, how the cope with obesity, and their perception of treatments for obesity. It did state in the article though, that unrealistic weight loss and quality of life expectations, and any disappointments that follow after treatment may exert their influence on the participant’s perception on a long-term basis.
References
Da Silva, S. S. P., & da Costa Maia, A. (2012, July). Obesity and Treatment Meanings in Bariatric Surgery Candidates: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Obesity Surgery, 22:1714-1722. Retrieved from ProQuest Database.
Obesity and treatment meanings in bariatric surgery candidates
HCS 465
University of Phoenix
June 3, 2015
Once a research study has come to a closure, it is often reviewed by its peers. Research evaluation is a vital process that determines whether a program or study is effective and how effective. Research studies must be successful in its results or at least bring light to new knowledge. If it does neither, then not only would it not allowed to proceed, but also it would be a waste of resources. The study under evaluation is the article Obesity and Treatment Meanings in Bariatric Surgery Candidates: A Qualitative Study.
The research evaluation process consists of identification of the client, determining …show more content…
the purpose of the evaluation, determining the methodology, how the evaluation will be conducted, identifying the proponents of the contract, and how or who will be using the evaluation results. The client and often times the person who will be making use of the evaluation results is the decision maker, in this case study that could be the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team for the Treatment of Obesity. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand obesity from the view of someone who is morbidly obese and their understanding of treatment options for obesity (specifically bariatric surgery). The data collection method will be through recorded interviews verbatim to ensure correctness of individual answers and the data collected will be analyze through the use of a software program.
Obesity is a large problem in the United States.
Since 1980, the obesity epidemic has swept the US by storm. The US currently holds the highest percentage for population obesity when compared to other high income countries; even when it is compared to other countries (not just developed countries), it still hold ranks in the top tier. Previous studies about obesity were more of a quantitative nature, numerical sense; thus they lack the comprehension of the subject’s perception of obesity and its treatments. These studies showed that a source of distressed for obese individuals were related to contemporary culture, interpersonal and intimate problems, and difficulties in professional …show more content…
issues.
In the research article, the authors seek to understand the subject’s perception of obesity (meaning of obesity), how to cope with obesity, and the available treatments for the health issue, particularly with the use of bariatric surgery. The focus of this study is on the psychological phenomena between the morbidly obese and how bariatric surgery would change their lives. The ground analysis for this research study is that the phenomena comprehension must emerge from the data collected rather than from the notions that were formed by the researcher (da Silva and da Costa Maia, 2012). The study sample consisted of 30 individuals (20 women and 10 men) from a multidisciplinary treatment center with a mean age of 39.17 years and a mean body mass index of 47.5. All the participants had failed several previous attempts at trying to lose weight.
The results in this study identified three core processes: obesity, eating behavior, and treatment.
Obesity is understood as an internal problem that affects all three dimensions (personal, interpersonal, and professional). Eating behavior holds multiple important roles on different sides of the spectrum in the participant’s life. Not only does it play a role weight and health maintenance, but also plays a role as a coping strategy to deal with stressful events. When the individual is maintaining their weight they are perceived as having control; however, if they use eating as a coping strategy, it is perceived as a loss of control. Treatment, bariatric surgery in this case, is perceived as a miracle cure that will solve all of the participant’s life problems. The results of the data collected did increase the knowledge and understanding of how obese individuals view their obesity and how the perceive the treatments (bariatric surgery). One limitation of this research study is that all of the participants came from the same hospital. Another limitation is that the sample size was not large and diverse enough. Meaning that the results may only reflect that particular environment, so it does not give a proper representation of the general public. The article stated the additional longitudinal studies are needed to assess the relationship between weight loss, quality of life expectations, and long-term compliance and
outcomes.
Before research studies can be conducted, researchers have to keep in mind of ethical considerations. Ethical considerations are a list of regulations that help protect and ensure the safety of its human participants, and protects researchers from infringing upon any human rights. The ethical considerations involved for data collection involves ten principles. The first principle is voluntary consent. Voluntary consent refers to the documents that the individual sign that basically states that their participation is voluntary, there was no coercion involved, and is an informed decision prior to participating in an experiment. The next principles states that research experiments must bring forth beneficial results and knowledge for it to be testable, only qualified personnel are allowed to conduct experiments, and the degree of risk should not exceed humanitarian importance. These principles prevents unnecessary human testing and ensures that the researchers involved have the expertise and knowledge in that field of study. The following principles are similar; they state that human experiments should be based on animal research results and knowledge, all precautions should be taken, and all unnecessary harm should be avoided. These principles ensure that researchers are well aware of the possible risks of the subject being experimented, have taken all the necessary precautions, and have conduct multiple testing on nonhuman subjects to ensure that there is minimal risk involved. The following principles are also very similar and they ensure that possible disabling injury or death will not be a result of the experiment -- testing is not allowed if death or disabling injury is suspected as a possibility and testing must be terminated immediately if possible death or injury is suspected. In this study, informed consent for participation and interview recording were used and approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital of Braga. With a mean age of 39.17, the participants of the study were over the age of consent and able to give an informed consent.
The data collected in the study of the morbidly obese and bariatric surgery was collected by the use of interviews that lasted anywhere from twenty minutes to eighty minutes. The data collection and analysis were purposely interweaved so that the questions would reflect and check the emerging categories. The interview answers were then analyzed with an NVivo 8.0 software according to the constant comparative method. To ensure validity of the research, an independent researcher was consulted to act as an auditor throughout the data analysis process. Since the research was of a qualitative nature, there were no significant statistics found in the results. However, the results did indicate a concurrent thought that surgery was the best treatment option available.
In the conclusion, the results indicated that the majority of the participants felt that obesity was something that they could not change without the help of bariatric surgery, whether it is due to biological factors or eating behavior. Most of the participants viewed healthy eating as a huge sacrifice and described surgery as an equivalent to a miracle pill. In this study, it was essential that the participants understood that there were other treatments available for weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight, understood that bariatric surgery was not a cure all, and bariatric surgery did not always result in positive and simple outcomes. It was also stated that quantitative data should probably be included with qualitative studies in the future to provide a statistical analysis.
This research study sought to explore and understand the participants understanding of obesity and their comprehension of bariatric surgery along with their fears. For the most part though, the conclusions and the results are comparable. The results of the study indicated a better understanding of obesity among those who are morbidly obese, how the cope with obesity, and their perception of treatments for obesity. It did state in the article though, that unrealistic weight loss and quality of life expectations, and any disappointments that follow after treatment may exert their influence on the participant’s perception on a long-term basis.
References
Da Silva, S. S. P., & da Costa Maia, A. (2012, July). Obesity and Treatment Meanings in Bariatric Surgery Candidates: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Obesity Surgery, 22:1714-1722. Retrieved from ProQuest Database.