Date of Award

3-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Food Science

First Advisor

Dr. Habiba Ali

Second Advisor

Dr. Javaid Nauman

Third Advisor

Lily Stojanovska

Abstract

Obesity is regarded as an increasingly prevalent public health problem, with enormous adverse health consequences. It also increases the risk for co-morbidities. There are several means to treat obesity, and bariatric surgery has emerged as one of the most prevalent ways to treat obesity. Despite the vast research assessing nutrition knowledge of patients regarding several health conditions, existing research assessing the nutrition knowledge of post-bariatric surgery patients is limited, although this category of patients is very susceptible to malnutrition post-surgery. The aim of this study was to assess the patients’ general nutrition knowledge and the knowledge specific to the dietary protocol post-surgery. This study also assessed the medical and nutritional complications associated with bariatric surgery, including patients’ awareness and understanding of dumping syndrome, patients’ perception of the clarity of information conveyed by the dietitians and its effect on their levels of compliance with post-surgery dietary protocol and the follow- up appointments with the dietitians. Results of this study showed that patients had good general nutrition knowledge. The questions assessing nutrition knowledge of the dietary protocol showed that the majority of the participants (66.2%) had average knowledge. In addition, most patients did not know what dumping syndrome is, and of those who knew what it is, only had knowledge about the food that promotes its occurrence. On the other hand, most patients followed up with a dietitian, although only 29% showed strong compliance to the dietitian’s instructions. This was strongly related to majority of patients (71.2%) finding the information conveyed as vague and unclear. The most experienced symptom post-bariatric surgery was nausea, followed by dizziness, dehydration, and vomiting. As for the overall quality of life, most of the patients never felt agitated, fatigued and/or regretted their decision of undergoing the surgery, and almost all participants found their daily activities to be more enjoyable. Future research on the relation of compliance to dietary protocol and improved quality of patients’ life post bariatric surgeries to extend our findings is needed.

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