Typology of Obese Patients’ Attitude to Life and Their Decision-Making Process for Bariatric Surgery

The present study aimed to perform the typology of obese people’s attitude to life and their decision-making for bariatric cosmetic surgery. The researcher selected an inductive approach to answer the questions of this study. Phenomenological method as the main method of the study with semi-structured interview technique helped the researcher collect data. The population included those who had undergone bariatric surgery and the saturation was obtained after 17 interviews. The researcher's theoretical perspective was based on the trans-school principle of opportunities, as well as the lifestyle and view of Elias and Habermas, which was merely used as a flexible and modifiable perspective of the researcher. The results indicated that there were three groups of people with three attitudes of independence, fear of the future, and preventive. The attitude of independence was created because of the damage to social interactions, the attitude of fear of the future was based on the presence of early and cross-sectional symptoms in patients, and the preventive approach with a view to weight loss was created for increasing life opportunities among patients. Two methods of recommending surgery and deciding on surgery were common among patients. One of the groups that decided to have surgery include the young people who considered it as the easiest way for losing weight and took advantage of their life opportunities and this was their incentive for bariatric surgery.