PhD student presents at European obesity symposium

PhD student Alyssa Budin’s research on outcome measures for patients post-bariatric surgery led to the opportunity to speak at an international symposium held as part of the European Congress on Obesity last month.

The symposium, organised by the Standardising Quality of life measures in Obesity Treatment (SQOT initiative), was titled ‘Integrating the patients’ perspective in obesity care: using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in clinical practices, research and registries’.

The SQOT initiative aims to standardise the PROMs used in obesity treatment across clinical practice, research, and registries globally. Alyssa was invited to be on the panel for a session discussing the use of PROMs in registries.

“The initiative has already identified PROMs to be used in clinical practice and research, but as there are no current PROMs for registries, my work will help inform the SQOT initiative's development in that space,” Alyssa explained.

Her PhD is focused on patient experience, quality of life, and psychosocial health following bariatric surgery. As a part of this, she is developing a PROM to be implemented within the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Bariatric Surgery Registry. Currently, there are no PROMs that are specific to the experiences of bariatric patients that would be suitable for a registry setting, hence the need to develop a new one.

“It was an honour to be asked to speak at this symposium,” Alyssa said. “The SQOT initiative is doing important global work and for my own research to be included as part of this is both humbling and highly rewarding.

"It was wonderful to hear from such an eclectic and international set of speakers at the symposium. Each practitioner, researcher, and person with lived experience faces their own challenges based on the space in which they work, but to see everyone come together focused on a common goal was quite inspiring. The inclusion of patient advocates within each portion of the symposium was a breath of fresh air. It cemented the importance of incorporating the patient voice in our research efforts. I will take away many lessons and insights from these discussions back home and incorporate them into my work.”

"I'm excited to see how the SQOT initiative's work continues to develop and how my own research efforts can help inform the initiative. I'm looking forward to working with all the wonderful researchers, clinicians and patient advocates I met during this trip as we tackle this important global health issue."