Development of a Weight Maintenance Intervention for Bariatric Surgery Patients (MAINTAIN-B)

Although bariatric surgery is highly effective for inducing significant weight loss and resolution of comorbidities, weight regain following surgery is a common problem. This pilot study will test the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention designed to help bariatric surgery patients maintain weight loss. Findings from this pilot will provide the foundation for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention.

The first intervention telephone call will occur one week following the baseline assessment. Calls will be made weekly in the first month (weeks 1, 2, 3, 4) and biweekly calls during months 2-4 (weeks 6, 8, 10, 12, 14). The goal of this intervention is to increase adherence to recommendations that patients are already receiving from their bariatric team as part of standard of care. Thus, each call will address maintenance skill building and anticipatory problem solving based on the processes outlined in the investigators' conceptual model and operationalized in the investigators' previous weight loss maintenance protocol. Relapse prevention planning will help patients identify situations in which overeating is common in the bariatric population (e.g., loss of control eating related to emotions, disinhibition).

Participants will receive calls at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 that focus on satisfaction with outcomes of behavior change, self-monitoring, relapse planning, and social support.

Patient weight obtained from the electronic medical record on the clinical visit date closest to the 16-week study assessment date

Inclusion Criteria: Bariatric surgery at a participating VA site Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) or laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastrectomy (SG) six to 18 months prior to the time of data pull English as preferred language Regular access to a telephone Exclusion Criteria: Receipt of procedure to prevent gastric cancer Revisional bariatric surgery Hearing impairment Cancer not in remission

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Voils CI, Adler R, Strawbridge E, Grubber J, Allen KD, Olsen MK, McVay MA, Raghavan S, Raffa SD, Funk LM. Early-phase study of a telephone-based intervention to reduce weight regain among bariatric surgery patients. Health Psychol. 2020 May;39(5):391-402. doi: 10.1037/hea0000835. Epub 2020 Jan 30.