Becoming a "normal" guy: Men making sense of long-term bodily changes following bariatric surgery
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(c) 2015 k. s. groven et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute thematerial in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10642/3032Utgivelsesdato
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Originalversjon
Groven, K. S., Galdas, P., & Solbrække, K. N. (2015). Becoming a normal guy: Men making sense of long-term bodily changes following bariatric surgery. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 10. http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v10.29923Sammendrag
Background: To date, research on bodily changes following bariatric surgery has focused predominantly on women, leavingthe long-term experience of men relatively unexplored. In this paper, we draw on interviews with men who have undergone anirreversible gastric bypass procedure to explore their bodily changes more than 4 years post-surgery. We apply a phenomenologicalframework that draws on Leder’s perspectives on the ‘‘disappearing’’ and ‘‘dys-appearing’’ body, combined with a gender-sensitivelens that draws on Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity and Robertson’s conceptionsofembodiedmasculinity.Findings: Our principal finding was that the men negotiated their bodily changes following bariatric surgery in profoundlyambivalent ways. Although they enthusiastically praised the surgery for improving their health, self-esteem, and social functioning,they also emphasized their efforts to cope with post-surgical side effects and life-threatening complications. Our analysis elaborateson their efforts to adjust to and come to terms with these changes, focusing onepisodes of hypoglycemia,severe pain and internalherniation,andthe significance of physical activity and exercise.Conclusions: Our findings point to the need to acknowledge men’s ways of making sense of profound and ongoing bodilychanges following bariatric surgery and how these negotiations are closely intertwined with masculine ideals of embodimentand social value.