Aspects of quality of life affected in morbidly obese patients who decided to undergo bariatric surgery: A qualitative study to design a native questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a known prevalent major health issue. The aim of this study is to assay Iranian patients' problems with obesity and their expectations of bariatric surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we included patients who have used different medical noninvasive treatments and were unsuccessful in losing weight from the obesity clinic in Al Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, from 2014 to 2015. Morbidly obese patients were interviewed using some open-ended questions, and then, directional content analysis of data was done.

RESULTS: Analysis of data showed five main categories including (1) physical health, (2) psychological health, (3) social relationships, (4) environment, and (5) "about the causes of obesity" with some subcategories for each category.

CONCLUSION: This study is the first step of designing a quality of life questionnaire while we focused on spiritual and cultural states of Iranian people.