Background: Bariatric surgery refers to weight reduction surgeries for obese
persons mainly by restricting their food consuming through a variety of surgical
procedures performed on gastrointestinal tract by reducing the size of the stomach. Aim
was to evaluate the effect of an educational program on minimizing complications for
patients post bariatric surgeries. Design: One group quasi-experimental design was
utilized to fulfill the aim of the present study. Setting: Surgical departments and
outpatient clinics at Benha University Hospital. Sample: A purposive sample of 45
bariatric patients. Tools: Two tools were used in this study; tool I: Patients' structured
interview questionnaire. Tool II: Postoperative complications assessment and follow up
sheet. Results: Only more than one fifth of the studied patients had good level of
knowledge at preprogram implementation compared to about half, two thirds & majority
of studied patients respectively during 1st month, after 3 & 6 months post program
implementation. There was a significant statistical difference between 3 months and 6
months post program implementation in relation to all items of late complication among
the studied patients. Conclusion: Implementing of an educational program had
statistically significant improvement of knowledge and complications among bariatric
patients. Recommendations: Further studies should be carried out using a wider
geographic scope and a larger sample size to acquire progressive improvement in patients'
knowledge and complications and to attain more generalizable results.