Vol.5, No.11, 1750-1759 (2013) Health http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/health.2013.511236 Patients’ perceptions, health and psychological changes with obesity treatment: Success and failure in a triangulation study * Susana Sofia Pereira da Silva 1# , Ângela da Costa Maia 2 1 School of Management and Industrial Studies, Institute Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal; # Corresponding Author: susanasofiapsilva@gmail.com , angelam@psi.uminho.pt 2 Center for Research in Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal Received 29 July 2013; revised 29 August 2013; accepted 15 September 2013 Copyright © 2013 Susana Sofia Pereira da Silva, Ângela da Costa Maia. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT The present study aims to understand changes in health problems, health complaints and cop- ing strategies, during the obesity treatment pro- cess with qualitative and quantitative data. Thirty bariatric patients were interviewed before bari- atric surgery and at a 12-month follow-up, and fulfilled self-report measures about health pro- blems, health complaints and coping strategies before surgery, at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Before surgery, failure cases differ from success on the conceptualization of obesity, However, there are no other differences between groups. At 6- and 12-month follow-ups, failure cases had the highest BMI, health problems and com- plaints and less % EWL than success cases. One year after the surgery, one in each three persons did not lose the expected weight, i.e., are failure cases. Before surgery, there are no differences between success and failure cases in the report of health problems, health com- plaints and coping strategies, but they have dif- ferent conceptualizations of their obesity and treatment. One year after the surgery, success cases understood bariatric surgery as an im- portant moment in their lives related to their expected results, whereas failures valued unex- pected dimensions and still waiting for a mira- cle surgery without their personal commitment. Accordingly, it is necessary to consider lifestyle changes in the obesity treatment process. Keywords: Bariatric Surgery; Success; Longitudinal Study 1. INTRODUCTION Obesity has increased all over the world, and, in de- veloped countries, it is estimated that 10% - 20% of the adult population has this chronic disease [1]. The impact of morbid obesity and comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, dysli- pidemia, low self-esteem, increase of morbidity and mor- tality is presented as a common problem among these subjects and has been studied by several authors [2-4]. The treatment of this multifactorial disease has become a challenge to health professionals and researchers. One of the most effective methods for significant and durable weight loss is treatment that includes bariatric surgery, a procedure that has been associated with several amelio- rations in health condition as well as improvements in personal and social dimensions [5]. However, the out- comes of this procedure are not always successful and some failure cases have been reported [6,7] highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary intervention that prioritizes lifestyle change. Considering the relevance to better understand this global epidemic and the best way to deal with it, differ- ent authors [8-12] have studied the characteristics of obesity and the treatment outcomes. If the data of several studies are consensual regarding health improvements after surgery weight loss [8-10], then that is not the case for medium and long-term consequences [11-13]. Different authors [11-13] reported controversial data, suggesting the need for more studies to contribute to a better knowl- edge of the obese population and the treatment process. For example, Lier and colleagues [14], in a recent study, * Conflict of interest: The authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest. Copyright © 2013 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS