| Summary: | <p> Bariatric surgery has demonstrated efficacy as a strategy to address morbid obesity and the comorbidities associated with this issue. Beyond two years there is an increased risk for weight regain and increases in Body Mass Index. Excess weight loss may impact quality of life and mental health status initially. Post-surgically, social support healthcare professional utilization is believed to influence excess weight loss success. Social contagion theory provides a model to explain and predict the impact of social networks on self-management. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between social support quality, health quality of life, mental health status, and healthcare team support utilization on the maintenance of excess weight loss and BMI in post-bariatric patients beyond two years after surgery. A total of 34 participants completed the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, SF-36, and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. The electronic health records of these patients were analyzed to determine utilization of healthcare professional support. Health quality of life was the only construct that demonstrated a statistical relationship with weight and BMI maintenance after two years (<i>r</i> = .46, <i>p</i> <.05; <i>r</i> =.47, <i>p</i> <.05). A significant negative correlation between quality of life and mental health status was found with both weight maintenance and BMI maintenance (<i>r</i> = -.62, <i>p</i> <.01; <i> r</i> = -.62, <i>p</i> <.01). There is limited research on long-term maintenance, but these findings are inconsistent with research which has found that social support, support utilization and mental health status may influence initial post surgical weight maintenance. A regression model found that the study variables are not predictive of the maintenance of weight and BMI beyond two years. These finding may contribute to research on weight maintenance in post bariatric patients beyond two years. The results should be viewed cautiously due to the low participation rate, which may have influenced statistical significance. Future research should examine the possible impact of weight gain on study participation, and may benefit from qualitative research methodology to determine themes associated with excess weight maintenance beyond two years.</p><p>
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