Psychosocial Changes of Bariatric Surgery in Patients' Everyday Life: a Scoping Review

Although the post-bariatric clinical and physical changes are well-known, the psychosocial changes in patients' everyday life are less clear. Therefore, we tried to summarize comprehensively the currently available literature on the psychosocial changes of bariatric surgery (BS) by means of a scoping review.

The scoping review was conducted following the Arksey and O'Malley framework, the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer's Manual 2015, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO were searched for data dating from January 2008 through October 2019. Only gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy procedures were considered for this review. To explore and describe the essence of the experienced changes deeply, only qualitative studies were included. The synthesis was performed using the qualitative content analysis technique.

The literature search yielded 1420 unique records, and 1371 articles were eliminated on the basis of irrelevant title and/or abstract. Forty-nine full-text articles were reviewed. Ultimately, eight articles were included in this scoping review. The qualitative content analysis emerged in 12 categories, which were further condensed into three major thematic areas, namely, "subjective self-image," "interpersonal relationships," and "it's not all gold that glitters," which reflect the post-operative psychosocial changes.

A wide range of psychosocial changes occurs following bariatric surgery. To maintain the improvements and to prevent negative changes, long-term support by specially trained health professionals is crucial.