Taylor, TamasinBeban, GrantYi, ElaineVeukiso, MichaelSang-Yum, GenevieveDewes, OfaWrapson, WendyTaufa, NaleiCampbell, Andrew RTSiegert, RJShepherd, Peter2024-03-042024-03-042024-02-12Obesity Surgery, ISSN: 0960-8923 (Print); 0960-8923 (Online), Springer, 34(3), 959-966. doi: 10.1007/s11695-024-07084-w0960-89230960-8923http://hdl.handle.net/10292/17286Purpose: Despite having the highest medical needs by population for weight loss treatment, Pacific patients in Aotearoa New Zealand face substantial levels of attrition in publicly funded weight loss surgery programs. In collaboration with the Auckland City Hospital bariatric surgery team, a Pacific-led preoperative weight loss surgery program was co-designed, delivered, and evaluated between 2020 and 2023. Materials and Methods: This was a single-arm, prospective co-designed evaluation study that took place at Auckland City Hospital in Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants were Pacific patients (n = 14) referred to the weight loss surgery program. Survey and video diaries were analyzed to determine if the program had the potential to increase Pacific patient retention through the preoperative stage of weight loss surgery, increase surgery completion rates, and improve the quality of treatment experiences. Results: Nine out of 14 participants attended all preoperative sessions. Six participants subsequently underwent weight loss surgery. Program components that had positive impacts on patient success and satisfaction were accessibility, information quality, having Pacific role models, cultural safety, and the group support system. The patients found the program to be culturally anchored and there was support for the implementation of the program going forward. Conclusion: This study demonstrated how a culturally anchored intervention can increase patient retention for those patients who may not respond to mainstream treatment. Adjusting existing preoperative weight loss surgery programs to integrate Pacific-led models of healthcare has the potential to increase Pacific patient resiliency to follow through with surgery. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.)Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Bariatric surgeryCo-designCulturally competentMetabolic surgeryPacific cultural competencyPacific-ledPreoperative surgery work-upWeight loss surgery4203 Health Services and Systems32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences42 Health SciencesPreventionPatient SafetyNutritionClinical Research1103 Clinical Sciences1117 Public Health and Health ServicesSurgery3202 Clinical sciences3210 Nutrition and dietetics4206 Public healthHumansObesity, MorbidProspective StudiesBariatric SurgeryDelivery of Health CarePower, PsychologicalJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1007/s11695-024-07084-w