Impact of a patient engagement support intervention (PHEinAction) on pre-bariatric surgery patients: a qualitative evaluation study

Literature highlights the need of feasible interventions where psychological, emotional and behavioral support strategies are leveraged to engage bariatric surgery patients taking care for their health. This study explores severe obese patients' self-reported outcomes with a nurse-led intervention providing patient engagement support ("PHEinAction") before bariatric surgery. A qualitative evaluation study through semi-structured interviews and self-report ques-tionnaires was led. in an Italian public hospital. Patient Health Engagement Scale was adminis-tered before, at the end, and three months after the intervention. Individual interviews were conducted within the three months after the intervention. Changes in questionnaires were ana-lyzed using paired t-tests, interviews using a thematic inductive approach. Among 17 partici-pants, there was a significant improvement in engagement scores from 2.7 at baseline to 3.3 at the end and to 3.5 three months later. PHEinAction had an impact on patients awaiting bari-atric surgery, with changes in engagement scores and in how they lived their obesity, their in-terpersonal relationships, and their self-care. This study offers preliminary support that PHEinAction helps patients with obesity on the behavioral change path. It is worthwhile to do a larger-scale randomized trial to evaluate its effect.