Behavior Therapy Prior to Bariatric Surgery

Obesity is an ever increasing public health problem in this country. Bariatric surgery is
currently the most effective treatment for morbid obesity and two hundred thousand surgeries
are performed in the United States each year. Unfortunately, despite anatomically
successful surgery, it is estimated that at most surgical centers about 30 percent of
patients will not achieve significant weight loss following surgery. It has been proposed
that participation in preoperative behavior therapy can enhance postoperative outcomes,
although empirical evidence for this premise is lacking. The current study is a pilot
project designed to conduct a prospective randomized trial to examine the impact of
participation in a 12-week standardized preoperative behavioral weight management program on
percentage of excess weight loss and psychosocial and medical outcomes at six months after
roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. The cost of bariatric surgery is not covered by this study
and only patients local to the Rochester, Minnesota area are eligible to participate.

It is hypothesized that patients who complete the 12-week behavioral program will experience
greater weight loss and improved psychosocial and medical outcomes compared to controls.