The Effects of E-Mobile Education and Counselling Services on Bariatric Surgery Patients

This research was carried out as a randomized controlled interventional study to determine the effect of e-mobile education and counseling service on self-care power, body image and quality of life in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The population of the study consisted of patients who underwent bariatric surgery in Isparta City Hospital, Obesity Center between July 2020 and July 2021. The sample consisted of patients who met the sample selection criteria in Isparta City Hospital Obesity Center and agreed to participate in the research verbally and in writing. Considering that the education and counseling services provided to the patients who met the inclusion criteria of the study and accepted to participate, might affect the effectiveness of the education level, the education level was determined as a criterion, and the patients were divided into the application and control groups using a simple random and stratified randomization method. The first patient included in the study in randomization was determined by the simple randomization method (coin-toss), and when a patient with the same education level came, he was necessarily included in the other group. Thus, the sampled individuals in the research group were divided into strata according to their education level. Five patients were excluded from follow-up due to the fact that one patient (n=1) wanted to withdraw from the study, three patients (n=3) could not be contacted, and one patient (n=1) developed complications. It was completed with 51 patients.The data of the study were collected using the Personal Information Form, Self-Care Strength Scale, Body Image Scale, Moorehead Ardelt Quality of Life Scale II (MA-II) prepared in line with the literature. In addition, the Quality Criteria Questionnaire for Health Information User (DISCERN) was used to evaluate the reliability and quality of the written educational material that will form the content of the mobile application, and the System Usability Scale was used to evaluate the functionality and usability of the mobile application. The data of the study were carried out with 2 groups as control (standard care) and application (mobile application). Randomization was carried out after meeting the patients who were planned to undergo bariatric surgery, treated in the obesity clinic, who met the sampling criteria and agreed to participate in the study, and were informed about the purpose of the study. The study was conducted in 4 stages with patients undergoing bariatric surgery.