Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Obesity is Canada's fastest growing public-health problem. Despite the critical role psychological factors play in the development and maintenance of this disease, the best treatment for extreme obesity is bariatric surgery. Although effective in reducing weight, surgery alone does not address behavioural adherence issues that affect 57% of patients and often lead to weight regain. Motivational interviewing (MI), a client-centered strategy for enhancing intrinsic motivation for change, is efficacious in improving a variety of problematic health behaviours, such as binge eating. Despite promising preliminary findings for the use of MI for bariatric patients experiencing difficulties adhering to post-surgery dietary guidelines, challenges in delivering psychosocial interventions to this patient population have been well documented. Specifically, long travel distances and obesity-related mobility issues limit the feasibility of in-person sessions for patients. I am proposing to conduct the first study to examine whether telephone-based MI (T-MI) may constitute an effective intervention for improving post-operative outcomes. Participants (N=120; 40 per group) will be recruited from the Bariatric Surgery Program at Toronto Western Hospital between 6 and 24 months post-surgery. It is hypothesized that, relative to waitlist controls, both T-MI and face-to-face MI groups will report greater self-efficacy for change and improved adherence to diet guidelines at 4-, 8- and 12-week follow-ups. The identification of cost-effective psychosocial interventions, such as MI, that hold promise as an adjunct to bariatric care will become increasingly important as the rate of obesity and number of bariatric surgeries performed in Canada continues to rise. Findings have the potential to bolster support for MI in a bariatric sample while also exploring avenues for expanding accessibility, with meaningful implications for the maintenance of healthy changes and weight loss post-surgery.