Au regard des études montrant que la pratique de la pleine conscience peut favoriser la perte pondérale, notre objectif fut d’évaluer l’influence de la pleine conscience dispositionnelle et de l’aptitude à manger en pleine conscience dans la perte pondérale chez des patients opérés par chirurgie bariatrique.

Cent quatre-vingt-quinze participants, dont 174 femmes (89,23 %) et 21 hommes (10,76 %), âgés de 20 à 68 ans (respectivement M=41,71 ; ET=11,37 ; M=43,52 ; ET=11,31) ont rempli des auto-questionnaires mesurant la pleine conscience dispositionnelle, l’aptitude à manger en pleine conscience et les symptômes anxieux et dépressifs.

Une étude de corrélation montre que l’aptitude à manger en pleine conscience est faiblement positivement corrélée avec la perte de poids postopératoire (r=0,19 ; p<0,01). Une analyse de régression multiple montre que, parmi les deux sous-échelles de l’aptitude à manger en pleine conscience, seule l’identification des sensations alimentaires est un prédicteur significatif de la perte pondérale post-chirurgie.

Cette étude montre que l’identification des sensations alimentaires pourrait être un prédicteur de la perte pondérale. Ceci suggère que l’amélioration des capacités à manger consciemment pourrait être explorée comme piste pour améliorer la perte pondérale post-chirurgie bariatrique.

Obesity is a major public health problem (Charles et al., 2008; Moisan et al., 2012). It is the result of interactions of multiple factors, making its treatment difficult. In addition, psychoaffective suffering is often associated with it. They may as well be the consequence as the cause of weight gain and its maintenance (Fernandez et al., 2015). Overweight and bodily dissatisfaction cause anxiety for many patients, and even emotional distress (Croiset and Sordes-Ader, 2014). Bariatric surgery is one of the solutions used in the medical care of obesity (Schaaf et al., 2015). It tends to normalize the quality of life in the first month (Fernandez et al., 2015; Piche et al., 2005). However, such an operation is not enough to maintain weight loss in the long term. Relationships between therapeutic programs based on mindfulness learning and questions related to weight management are increasingly studied and show that this learning promotes weight loss in overweight people (Dalen et al., 2010; Kristeller et al., 2014). Such learning would also enhance the benefits of bariatric surgery (Katterman et al., 2014).

To our knowledge, the relationship between mindfulness-trait and the effects of bariatric surgery has not been studied to date. We can suppose the level of mindfulness-trait can play a role in the success of an individual operation. A high level of mindfulness-trait could lead to better eating management in response to an emotion. Thus, we assessed the relationship between mindfulness-trait, mindful eating and postoperative weight loss.

One hundred and ninety-five participants, 174 women and 21 men, aged 20 to 68 years (M=41.71, SD=11.37, M=43.52, SD=11.31) completed self-administered questionnaires measuring mindfulness-trait (Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, Heeren et al., 2011), mindful eating (Mindful Eating Questionnaire, Clementi et al., 2017) and anxiety and depressive symptoms (Symptom Check-list-90, Derogatis and Cleary, 1977). The participants were recruited between two and twenty-four months after their operation. Pre-surgery weight measurements were taken at the time of the operation. Post-surgery weight measurements were taken participants answered the questionnaires.

The correlation study showed a weak positive correlation between the conscious eating and weight loss variables (r=0.19, P<0.001). A multiple regression analysis was performed to predict postoperative weight loss, using as predictors the two subscales of the Mindful Eating Questionnaire. These two predictors accounted for 3.9% of the variance, which is significant [F (2, 192)=3.87, P<0.05]. The identification of food sensations was a significant predictor (β=17, t=2.35, P=0.02).

The aim of study was to evaluate the influence of mindfulness on the weight loss post-bariatric surgery patients. Studies have shown that mindfulness-based interventions can lead to weight loss and improved eating behaviors (Kristeller et al., 2014; Katterman et al., 2014). In our research, predictive analysis showed that it was only food sensations identification that predicts post-surgical weight loss. Neither mindfulness-trait, nor anxious and depressive symptoms, seemed to affect weight. The present study revealed a link between mindful eating, food sensations identification and mindfulness-trait. Thus, the people who eat mindfully would be less likely to eat under the influence of emotion.