Obesity is on the rise in the United States. The traditional treatment o f diet and exercise has been ineffective with weight loss and weight maintenance; therefore, the medical community and obese individuals are looking at bariatric surgery for a more effective treatment. Health educators and bariatric programs want clients to succeed with their weight loss and use surgery as a tool and not as a cure for obesity. It is speculated that the use o f health education strategies and behavior change theories would provide the client with the best chance for long-term success. This study reviewed bariatric programs via the web sites for program information to determine if there was an integration of health education strategies and behavior change theories among programs. The theories included in this study were the Health Belief Model, Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy. Univariate analysis was used to assess study results. The study demonstrated that bariatric programs most often used the health education strategies o f orientation/informational session (68%, n=13) and support groups (53%, n=10) for educating clients. Results also indicated that the health belief model was the behavior change model most often identified in bariatric programs. The health belief model was identified in 90% (n=17) o f the bariatric programs reviewed. Decisional balance from the transtheoretical model was well integrated into the bariatric programs with 90% (n=17) o f the programs using this construct. The social cognitive theory and self-efficacy were not well integrated due to needing direct access to the bariatric programs and clients. Future research still needs to address whether or not health education strategies and behavior change theories are beneficial to bariatric program development and do they help to define a quality bariatric program?
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