EXPLORING NEGATIVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS BODY IMAGE AND MALADAPTIVE EATING BEHAVIORS IN BARIATRIC SURGERY CANDIDATES

Introduction: Maladaptive eating-related behaviors and body uneasiness deserve attention in the preoperative assessment of BS candidates. Several studies have focused primarily on the link between emotional eating and body image dissatisfaction in preoperative candidates. However, less is known about the preoperative associations among other maladaptive eating-related behaviors such as external eating, i.e. eating-related behavior triggered by food smell and test, and restrained eating, as well as different attitudinal, i.e. negative evaluations of the body, behavioral, i.e. avoidance and compulsive self-monitoring, and clinical, i.e. depersonalization, dimensions of body uneasiness. Aim: The present study aimed to explore the associations among body uneasiness-related dimensions and maladaptive eating behaviors in preoperative BS candidates. Methods: The BS candidates were 71 (42 women) who were interviewed between 2021 and 2022; they self-reported on the following measures: the Dutch Eating Behaviors Questionnaire Emotional, External, and Restrained eating scales, the Eating Disorders Inventory-3 Body Dissatisfaction scale, and the Body Uneasiness Test. Results: Results from stepwise regression analysis showed that Emotional Eating was uniquely associated with Avoidance, while External Eating was associated with Body Image Concerns, after controlling for actual BMI, age, and gender. No associations were found for Restrained Eating. Discussion and conclusions: Our findings contribute to understanding that preoperative body uneasiness-related dimensions such as body image concerns and avoidance behaviors might be differentially associated with emotional and external eating. Examining preoperative maladaptive eating-related behaviors and their associations with body uneasiness has clinical implications in terms of appropriate referral to medical or other health services to improve healthy body image and eating habits in preoperative patients.