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A semi-structured interview is associated with bariatric surgery outcomes

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Abstract

Pre-surgical psychological evaluations (PSPE) are required by many insurance companies and used to help identify risk factors that may compromise bariatric post-surgical outcomes. These evaluations, however, are not yet standardized. The present study investigated the utility of a semi-structured assessment, Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT), on post-surgical outcomes across 18 months. A total of 272 adult patients underwent a psychosocial evaluation and received bariatric surgery November 2017 to September 2020 at a Midwestern academic medical center. Average age at pre-surgical evaluation was 45.2 (SD = 10.7) years and 82.3% of patients were female (n = 224). With an a priori α of 0.05, multi-level modeling with weight as the outcome and regression with complications as the outcome were used. Higher SIPAT Patient Readiness, indicating difficulty with adhering to health behaviors and a reduced understanding of bariatric surgery, was associated with elevated patient weight at the 18-month follow-up (𝛽 = 0.129, p = 0.03). Higher SIPAT Social Support, was associated with patient weight at the 18-month follow-up, with reduced support associated with greater weight (𝛽 = 0.254, p = 0.004). Higher SIPAT Social Support also was associated with a greater risk of complications across the 18-month follow-up window (𝛽 = -0.108, p = 0.05). Patients with higher readiness to adhere to behavioral changes, and those reporting an intact social support system, generally weighed less at 18 months. The SIPAT may be considered as part of the standardized pre-surgical assessment, however, further research is required to elucidate its utility.

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Data analysis was conducted in R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Stephanie E. Punt PhD

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Mariana Rincon Caicedo MA & Stephen S. Ilardi PhD

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS, 66160, USA

    Ashley C. Rhodes PhD & Jessica L. Hamilton PhD

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  2. Mariana Rincon Caicedo MA
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  3. Ashley C. Rhodes PhD
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  5. Jessica L. Hamilton PhD
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Stephanie Punt, Mariana Rincon Caicedo, Ashley Rhodes, Stephen Ilardi, and Jessica Hamilton. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Stephanie Punt and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Review was waived by the local Institutional Research Ethics Board in view of the retrospective nature of the study and the fact that all procedures were part of routine care within the context of a parent quality assurance project.

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Punt, S.E., Caicedo, M.R., Rhodes, A.C. et al. A semi-structured interview is associated with bariatric surgery outcomes. J Behav Med 47, 483–491 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-024-00471-9

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