Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Mar;34(3):959-966.
doi: 10.1007/s11695-024-07084-w. Epub 2024 Feb 12.

Empowering Pacific Patients on the Weight Loss Surgery Pathway: A Co-designed Evaluation Study

Tamasin Ariana Taylor  1 , Grant Beban  2 , Elaine Yi  2 , Michael Veukiso  3 , Genevieve Sang-Yum  3 , Ofa Dewes  4   5 , Wendy Wrapson  6 , Nalei Taufa  7 , Andrew R T Campbell  8 , Richard J Siegert  6 , Peter Shepherd  7
Affiliations

Empowering Pacific Patients on the Weight Loss Surgery Pathway: A Co-designed Evaluation Study

Tamasin Ariana Taylor et al. Obes Surg. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: Despite having the highest medical needs by population for weight loss treatment, Pacific patients in Aotearoa New Zealand face substantial levels of attrition in publicly funded weight loss surgery programs. In collaboration with the Auckland City Hospital bariatric surgery team, a Pacific-led preoperative weight loss surgery program was co-designed, delivered, and evaluated between 2020 and 2023.

Materials and methods: This was a single-arm, prospective co-designed evaluation study that took place at Auckland City Hospital in Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants were Pacific patients (n = 14) referred to the weight loss surgery program. Survey and video diaries were analyzed to determine if the program had the potential to increase Pacific patient retention through the preoperative stage of weight loss surgery, increase surgery completion rates, and improve the quality of treatment experiences.

Results: Nine out of 14 participants attended all preoperative sessions. Six participants subsequently underwent weight loss surgery. Program components that had positive impacts on patient success and satisfaction were accessibility, information quality, having Pacific role models, cultural safety, and the group support system. The patients found the program to be culturally anchored and there was support for the implementation of the program going forward.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated how a culturally anchored intervention can increase patient retention for those patients who may not respond to mainstream treatment. Adjusting existing preoperative weight loss surgery programs to integrate Pacific-led models of healthcare has the potential to increase Pacific patient resiliency to follow through with surgery.

Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Co-design; Culturally competent; Metabolic surgery; Pacific cultural competency; Pacific-led; Preoperative surgery work-up; Weight loss surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participant feedback on the content of preoperative information sessions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Overall usefulness of the program
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Adams TD, Davidson LE, Litwin SE, et al. Weight and metabolic outcomes 12 years after gastric bypass. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(12):1143–1155. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1700459. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cornejo-Pareja I, Molina-Vega M, Gómez-Pérez AM, et al. Factors related to weight loss maintenance in the medium-long term after bariatric surgery: a review. J Clin Med. 2021;10(8):1739. doi: 10.3390/jcm10081739. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. English WJ, DeMaria EJ, Hutter MM, et al. American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery 2018 estimate of metabolic and bariatric procedures performed in the United States. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2020;16(4):457–463. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2019.12.022. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sundström J, Bruze G, Ottosson J, et al. Weight loss and heart failure: a nationwide study of gastric bypass surgery versus intensive lifestyle treatment. Circulation. 2017;135(17):1577–1585. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.116.025629. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Müller TD, Blüher M, Tschöp MH, et al. Anti-obesity drug discovery: advances and challenges. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2022;21(3):201–223. doi: 10.1038/s41573-021-00337-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed