Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery (WLS), is rising in popularity every year. Despite this, there is currently limited research on the importance of different motivations for the decision to have WLS. It also isn’t clear if there is a connection between motivation and individual success ratings. This study aims to understand the importance of different motivations – including social shame/stigma, future health concerns, current health issues, appearance, interpersonal relationships, and employment – and also attempts to find an association between motivation importance and perceived success of surgery. A survey administered on online support forums produced a total of 45 participants with a mean age of 29 years and average pre-surgery BMI of 46.25. The first hypothesis was not supported in that future health concerns were not rated as the most important motivation. The second hypothesis was not supported in that women and men placed similar importance on appearance motivation; although unexpected, women placed more importance on future health concerns while men placed more importance on employment. The partially supported third hypothesis revealed some associations between motivation importance and perceived success. The fourth and fifth hypotheses were supported in that instability in employment status and romantic relationships related to greater emphasis on the corresponding motivation rating. This project provides support for the need to understand motivation differences among patients and to support them to possibly increase feelings of success by the patient.

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