Evaluation of nutritional knowledge levels in pre-op and POST-op period of bariatric surgery patients

The aim of this study is to compare the nutritional knowledge level of patients in preoperative and 6.postoperative months and the relationship between nutritional knowledge and dietitian follow-up and weight loss in individuals who applied to the surgical outpatient clinic of a private hospital in Bursa for obesity surgery. The study was conducted with 34 people who meeting the inclusion criteria between January 2019 and June 2019. For determination of the nutritional knowledge levels of individuals, 'General Nutrition Information Questionnaire', was used. Weight and height information as anthropometric properties; as for socio-demographic characteristics, information such as age, gender, marital status, and working status in the last part of the questionnaire were taken. It was determined that the nutritional knowledge level increased at the postoperative 6th month (p<0.05). In contrast to other studies, there was no statistically significant relationship between nutritional information level with age and education level (p>0.05). It was determined that there was more excess body weight loss (EBWL) in the 6th month in individuals who are compatible with the literature and even higher. There was a negative statistically significant relationship between the number of correct in some parts of the nutritional knowledge level questionnaire and the frequency of visits to dieticians (p<0.05). This condition is thought to be caused by patients living outside the city and abroad. With the increase in nutritional information level, it is thought that frequent complications after surgery may be prevented, PEM risk may be reduced and the incidence of vitamin & mineral deficiencies may be reduced. Key words: bariatric surgery, nutritional information level, frequency of dietician visits, ebwl rate, obesity