Section of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, 409, Taché Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R2H 2A6, Canada.
Faculty of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 750 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 0W3, Canada.
Obes Surg. 2024 Sep;34(9):3348-3357. doi: 10.1007/s11695-024-07405-z. Epub 2024 Aug 3.
Obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) are growing global health concerns. A disproportionate number of Indigenous Peoples live with obesity and its complications. Bariatric surgery offers superior weight loss and comorbidity resolution when compared to medical management. There is a paucity of literature regarding the experiences of Indigenous Peoples undergoing bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to employ two-eyed seeing and a decolonizing approach to explore the experiences of urban Indigenous bariatric surgery patients.
An Indigenous Advisory Committee guided the conception and design of the study. Four urban Indigenous bariatric surgery patients with T2DM participated in two sequential sharing circles and individual interviews facilitated by an Elder. Audio transcripts were analyzed for emerging themes using inductive thematic analysis.
Themes generated from shared participant experiences and knowledge included the following: (1) Experiencing hardship or challenges; (2) Reflecting on the importance of supports; (3) Understanding relationships with food; and (4) Healing and recovery. Overall, the participants described a generally positive experience with the bariatric pathway. Participants also described varied connectedness to their Indigenous identity but uniformly expressed interest in more culturally diverse supports such as sharing circles, access to an elder, and Indigenous peer mentorship.
Indigenous Peoples have strong motivators for pursuing bariatric surgery and desire access to culturally relevant supports. Suggestions for program improvement included offering sharing circles, providing access to an elder, and Indigenous peer mentorship. This study is the first to qualitatively explore the bariatric surgery experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
肥胖和 2 型糖尿病（T2DM）是日益严重的全球健康问题。相当数量的土著人民患有肥胖症及其并发症。与药物治疗相比，减重手术在减轻体重和解决合并症方面效果更好。关于土著人民接受减重手术的经验，文献很少。本研究旨在采用双眼观察和去殖民化的方法，探讨城市土著减重手术患者的经历。
土著咨询委员会指导了研究的构思和设计。四名患有 T2DM 的城市土著减重手术患者参加了由一名长者主持的两轮分享圈和个人访谈。使用归纳主题分析对音频记录进行了主题分析。
从参与者的共同经历和知识中产生的主题包括以下几点：（1）经历困难或挑战；（2）反思支持的重要性；（3）了解与食物的关系；（4）康复。总的来说，参与者描述了一个普遍积极的减重手术经历。参与者还描述了与他们的土著身份的不同联系，但都表示有兴趣获得更多文化多样化的支持，如分享圈、获得长者的支持和土著同伴指导。
土著人民有强烈的动机寻求减重手术，并希望获得与文化相关的支持。改善计划的建议包括提供分享圈、提供与长者的联系和土著同伴指导。这项研究首次定性探讨了加拿大土著人民的减重手术经历。
