Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

"Obesity" has recently been redefined by many in the medical community as a disease, with the goal of improving access to treatment and reducing "obesity" related stigma. Because of this increased medicalization of body weight, there has been an increased emphasis on treatments such as bariatric surgery and pharmaceuticals. Bariatric surgery can take several forms, with the goal of reducing food intake and therefore inducing weight loss. Little data is available on the long term success of bariatric surgery, but existing data suggests that these surgeries are risky, with possible outcomes including substance abuse, suicide, nutrition deficiencies, and death. Anecdotally, it is common for patients, and often specifically women and trans people, to be denied access to other medical treatments and ancillary care services until after they have undergone bariatric surgery and/or reduced their body weight, although policies and formalized guidelines tend to be unclear about when these surgeries are a necessary prerequisite to other procedures. What has yet to be explored is how patients and healthcare providers make decisions and make sense of their experiences related to bariatric surgery, and how these experiences match or are discrepant with relevant policy documents. The proposed research will focus on bariatric surgery clients and healthcare providers who work with individuals who have received surgery (pre- and post) in Canada, and will use qualitative interviews and thematic analysis to explore how participants make sense of their experiences. Additionally, participants will point me to relevant policy documents from healthcare authorities across Canada, to determine what risks are acknowledged, etc. Analysis will look for discrepancies and similarities across and between the interviews and the policy documents. This work has the potential to inform future research, policy and practice related to bariatric surgery and other medical "treatments" for "obesity."