Social support provided to bariatric surgery patients through a facebook group may improve weight loss outcomes

Abstract

Background: Patients' social support has been shown to impact outcomes after bariatric surgery. We have previously shown that a Facebook group administered by bariatric providers offers an effective alternative social support mechanism to in-person support groups, with higher patient participation. Our aim was to determine whether participation in this Facebook group could improve patient outcomes after bariatric surgery.

Methods: After institutional board approval, our center's Facebook group members were electronically surveyed about their perceived value of group participation and their Facebook group usage frequency. We also collected patient age, sex, insurance, preoperative weight, type of procedure, hospital stay, postoperative complications, and weight loss from the electronic medical record. To assess the impact of Facebook group participation we compared patient outcomes between "frequent users" (those checking the Facebook group's activity at least once a week), "infrequent users", and a control group of all patients operated on during the year prior to the establishment of the Facebook group. The groups were compared after adjusting for potential confounding factors.

Results: 250 out of 1400 Facebook group patients responded to the survey (18%). 195 patients were frequent and 55 were infrequent users. Outcomes were compared with 211 control patients. The groups did not differ in their baseline characteristics apart from their sex. Frequent users had a higher weight loss compared to the other groups up to 2 years postoperatively but no difference in the overall complications. On multivariable analysis, frequency of Facebook use was the main factor associated with 0.5-, 1-, and 2-year weight loss.

Conclusion: Frequent participation in a Facebook support group after bariatric surgery was associated with improved early weight loss outcomes. If additional longer-term studies confirm our findings, offering similar social support groups may become essential after bariatric surgery, especially during times of social isolation when in-person social support meetings may not be feasible.