Assessing Motivational Stages and Processes of Change for Weight Management Around Bariatric Surgery: a Multicenter Study.

Abstract

The assessment of the patients' motivation as a predictor of behavioral change via five stages (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance) and four processes (emotional re-evaluation, weight management actions, environmental restructuring, and weight consequences evaluation) of change. A total of 542 participants (251 waiting for bariatric surgery (BS), 90 undergoing BS, and 201 controls) completed the Stages (S-Weight) and Processes (P-Weight) of Change in Overweight and Obese People questionnaires in a multicenter cross-sectional study. A higher percentage of subjects seeking BS (31.7%) were in the action stage (16.7% of post-BS patients, p Obesity is accompanied by a modifying behavioral stage, suggesting that subjects before BS are seriously thinking about overcoming excess weight. To identify subjects on the waiting list for BS who will be more receptive to weight lost interventions remains a challenge.