Co-Responsibility: Exploring the Impact of Patient-Partner Dynamics on Health Outcomes After Bariatric Surgery

The social environment of patients undergoing bariatric surgery is gaining influence on health outcomes. This retrospective cohort study aims to develop a questionnaire measuring patient-partner co-responsibility and its association with postoperative health outcomes. Three hundred ninety patients undergoing bariatric surgery between 2015 and 2020 filled out a questionnaire, assessing co-responsibility, spousal support, and health outcomes such as weight loss, eating and exercise habits, and self-efficacy. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for component identification and regression analysis to address the association between co-responsibility and health outcomes. PCA identified three components explaining 56.7% of variance: "Satisfaction with partner support," "Love and support," and "Desired co-responsibility," with high internal consistency, except for "Desired co-responsibility." Despite relatively high ratings of co-responsibility, prediction of patients' health outcomes was poor, explaining between 5% and 11% of variance in body mass index (BMI) reduction, weight loss, physical activity, and weight loss-related self-efficacy. Despite poor predictability, co-responsibility was consistently associated with health indices like BMI, weight, physical activity, eating habits, and self-efficacy. While the instrument needs refinement, it provides first insights for caretakers and adds a new angle to Patient Reported Experience Measures by taking a patient's social context out of the hospital into account.