Why eMindful for Bariatrics?

eMindful Bariatrics offers live, online behavioral education in support of bariatric surgery - where you can see and hear your teacher and fellow group participants. To participate, all you need is a high speed internet connection (DSL or Cable are fine) headset/microphone combination (provided with the 13-week course) and, if you wish, a webcam. Technical assistance is available to help even the most novice computer user. Here's how an online class can support bariatric surgical patients:

One of the main purposes of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) is to "promote guidelines for ethical patient selection and care". To that end the Society has published Suggestions for the Pre-Surgical Psychological Assessment of Bariatric Surgery Candidates which can be found on the ABMBS website:

http://www.asbs.org/html/pdf/PsychPreSurgicalAssessment.pdf

The section entitled "Health-Related Risk-Taking Behavior" (page 4) states:

• compulsive behaviors such as emotional and stress eating are common in bariatric patients.  Further, "candidates who engage in compulsive behavior are at a high risk post-surgery for substituting other behaviors at maladaptive and compulsive levels when food is no longer readily available."
• unregulated eating is a habit which may require psycho-education "to enhance their (the bariatric candidate's) appreciation of, or skill build their capacity for, mindful eating." and,
• compliance with recommended treatments for either physical or mental health conditions is an indicator of a patient's potential attitude toward post-surgical guidelines.

The 13-week Mindful Eating Course for Bariatric Patients, developed by mindful eating researchers at the Duke Center for Intergrative Medicine, offers benefits clearly addressing these issues:

• by offering a psycho-educational opportunity to build skills for mindful eating.
• Building skills in mindfulness reduces the likelihood of substituting other compulsive behaviors post-surgery, as mindfulness addresses what is happening in the present - and bypassing the need for distractions from unpleasant and/or unwanted thoughts and feelings. 
• And successful completion of the course pre-operatively not only gives the candidate an opportunity to build useful skills, but can also be used as an indicator of a patient's likely post-surgical success.

Ongoing online classes in mindful eating are available to further support skillful eating habits and provide the opportunity to interact with other bariatric patients facing similar challenges. These classes are scheduled several times per week - a new topic and supporting interactive exercises are offered each week.

Research has demonstrated that ongoing support is likely to improve your chances of maintaining significant weight loss. See related article