To be or not to be active – a matter of attitudes and social support? Women’s perceptions of physical activity five years after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Despite positive health advantages of post-surgery physical activity (PA) for bariatric surgery patients, the majority is not sufficiently physically active. The aim was to explore women’s perceptions and experiences concerning PA five years after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) surgery.

Methods: Eleven women were interviewed five years post-surgery. Grounded Theory approach was applied.

Results: The core-category “Attitudes and surrounding environment influence activity levels” includes three attitudes towards PA: “Positive attitudes”, “Shifting attitudes” and “Negative attitudes”. Participants with a positive attitude were regularly physically active, felt supported and proud of their achievements. Contrary, participants with a negative attitude didn’t prioritize PA, didn’t feel supported and saw no need or benefit of PA. Some participants revealed an on-off behaviour, hovering between the attitudes of vigorous PA and sedentary lifestyle, without sustainable balance. The majority mostly viewed PA as a mean to lose weight.

Conclusion: The level of perceived post-surgery PA was related to the participants’ attitudes towards PA and whether or not they had a supportive environment. These findings might explain why bariatric surgery patients often fail to be sufficiently active post-surgery, and highlight the need for prolonged support and motivational interventions to promote sustainable PA post-bariatric surgery.

KEYWORDS:

• Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
• bariatric surgery
• physical activity
• attitudes
• social support
• interviews
• qualitative
• grounded theory

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff involved in this study from the five hospitals, Danderyd Hospital, Ersta Hospital, Uppsala University Hospital, Örebro University Hospital and St. Görans Hospital, for their help in recruiting study participants for the initial cohort. Also, we would like to thank the study participants that participated in this study.

Data availability statement

The data sets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Stockholm County Council (ALF) under Grant 20180266 and the National School in Caring Sciences at Karolinska Institutet (NFV);Kommunfullmäktige, Stockholms Stad [20180266];National School in Caring Science (NFV) - Karolinska Institutet;

Notes on contributors

Sofie Possmark

Sofie Possmark: PhD student focusing on physical activity and wellbeing after Roux-en-Y Gastric bypass surgery. Background in public health.

Daniel Berglind: PhD with a biomedical background. Predominantly involved in both intervention and epidemiological research on obesity and physical activity.

Fanny Sellberg: PhD student with a background in nutrition and epidemiology. Her research focuses on wellbeing and physical activity after RYGB and the effect a maternal RYGB could have on her children.

Ata Ghaderi: PhD and professor of Clinical Psychology. His research is mainly on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and obesity.

Margareta Persson: PhD and her research predominantly focus on health and well-being in women with obesity and gestational diabetes. She has a background in Midwifery Science and a PhD in Clinical science, obstetrics and gynecology.