The Case of Bariatric Surgery: A Pilot Study University of Salerno

Abstract

The paper analyses, through interdisciplinary approaches, the perception of one’s own body image in subjects treated with bariatric surgery. This research clearly emphasizes the increase in adult obesity for biological causes as well as for factors inextricably bound up with a range of social and cultural elements, such as dietary habits, social and local backgrounds, and family and gender customs. The work presents the results of an investigation on a sample of people treated with bariatric surgery and realized through quantitative methodologies. The results of the research have shown the need for the adoption of a more comprehensive and holistic perspective to further extend the discussion, connecting a social epidemiological framework for obesity together with an analysis of the transformations in the process of socialization of the people. The research showed also that bariatric surgery is important for each patient because s/he prefers the perspective of the body as a ‘project’ and for people, such a project casts into a total adherence to the indications received by their respective doctors.