‘‘They think surgery is just a quick fix’’
Journal article, Peer reviewed
© 2014 k. s. groven. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 unported ( c c b y 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material 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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Date
2014-07-11Metadata
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Groven, K. S. (2014). They think surgery is just a quick fix. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v9.24378Abstract
Background: To prevent weight regain, patients undergoing weight loss surgery are encouraged to change their exercise and dietary habits. Building on previous research, the aim of this study was to explore women’s experiences of changing exercise habits – focusing on women participating in a group based rehabilitation program including surgical as well as non-surgical participants.
Findings: Based on interviews with the 11 women included in this study, as well as participant observation, two themes were identified; 1) Pushing ones tolerance limits, and 2) Rebutting the “quick fix” fallacy. Taken together, the findings showcase how being a part of this mixed group involved having to relate to social stigmas, as well as notions regarding successful and non-successful surgical outcomes. Although such notions may be useful in identifying potential challenges related to changing exercise habits, they do not illuminate the complexity of undergoing such changes following weight loss surgery.
Conclusion: The findings point to the need of acknowledging patients’ own exceriences to determine how successful they are after surgery. Given the findings, I argue for the need to reconsider the notion of success in relation to group based interventions.