DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALE FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY: THE BARITEST

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment in bariatric surgery
• Development and validation of psychometric instruments
• Patient-reported outcomes in metabolic and bariatric surgery

Background:

• Psychological assessment is recommended for bariatric surgery candidates.
• Existing instruments lack comprehensive validation for pre- and post-operative bariatric patients across genders.
• A validated tool is needed to assess psychological well-being influencing surgical outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel psychometric instrument for assessing psychological outcomes in bariatric patients.
• The instrument aims for utility both before and after bariatric surgery.
• To ensure the instrument's constructs are valid for both genders.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 660 community members and bariatric patients.
• Development of BariTest, a 59-item Likert scale across 6 constructs: emotional state, eating behavior, quality of life, body weight relationship, alcohol consumption, and social support.
• Validation using confirmatory factor analysis for content, criteria, and construct validity, with R statistical software.

Main Results:

• Confirmatory factor analysis indicated adequate model adjustment.
• BariTest demonstrated good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.93.
• Emotional state, eating behavior, and quality of life scores were higher in postoperative patients compared to preoperative, and similar to the community group. Alcohol consumption was lower in both surgical groups compared to the community.

Conclusions:

• BariTest is a reliable and valid psychometric scale.
• The instrument effectively measures psychological well-being in bariatric patients.
• BariTest can be used for pre-operative and post-operative assessments.