Support Groups - Do They Make A Difference?

A new research from Memphis, TN, published in the journal "Obesity Surgery" provides another evidence that attending support group meetings after bariatric surgery does make a difference. The article's title is "Support Group Meeting Attendance is Associated with Better Weight Loss". Postoperative bariatric patients completed a questionnaire regarding their opinions of support group meetings. Patients who did not attend support group meetings tended to feel that such meetings were not needed after bariatric surgery. Furthermore, patients who did not attend support group meetings tended to feel that they would lose the same amount of weight with or without attending. Despite those feelings, the study found that gastric bypass patients who attended support group meetings had significantly better weight loss than patients who did not attend. Those findings are consistent with those of Song and associates (Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University). The latter study concluded: "Support groups are important for maintaining weight loss throughout the first year after surgery, especially after 6 months when the rate of weight loss from surgery begins to naturally decline."

This reminds us of the study of Gould and associates, that was reported here, not too long ago, that showed the importance of the follow-up postoperative appointments for long term weight loss.

References:

Orth WS, Madan AK, Taddeucci RJ, Coday M, Tichansky DS. Support Group Meeting Attendance is Associated with Better Weight Loss.Obes Surg. 2008 Feb 20; PMID: 18286346 (Abstract)

Song Z, Reinhardt K, Buzdon M, Liao P. Association between support group attendance and weight loss after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Mar 30; PMID: 17400030 (Abstract)

Gould JC, Beverstein G, Reinhardt S, Garren MJ. Impact of routine and long-term follow-up on weight loss after laparoscopic gastric bypass. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Nov-Dec;3(6):627-30. PMID: 17950045 (Abstract)