Two hundred thousand – that’s how many weight loss surgeries are performed in the United States each year. Most of these surgeries end in success – but those that don’t are usually because patients continue to engage in unhealthy behaviors after surgery.
Providing comprehensive education before patients undergo bariatric surgery can prepare them for their new life post-op. The question is, what’s the best way to get the information across?
The Obesity Society, America’s leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity, thinks it might have an answer.
The group has formed a five-year partnership with the health education specialists at Healthy Interactions to develop educational materials intended to better support the medical treatment of obesity — especially behavior change in weight loss surgery patients.
The collaboration centers on Healthy Interactions’ Conversation Map interactive verbal and visual group learning system. The Conversation Map itself is a three-foot by five-foot tabletop display. During a Conversation Map group session, specially trained healthcare professionals use “images and metaphors” shown on the display to present information on post-operative behavior in a way that will engage the patients’ interest, spark discussion about the topic at hand, and help them collaborate to discover ways they can change behavior and improve their post-operative health.
The Conversation map is said to be intuitive and easy to learn, and the sessions take anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours to complete.
The Obesity Society is developing the actual programs that will be used with the Conversation Map tools. The curricula developed by the Society are intended to motivate each weight loss surgery patient to realize and maintain a healthy body mass index.
