Bariatric surgery remains the “gold standard” treatment for obesity, according to the American College of Surgeons in 2025; however, while evidence shows that surgery can improve health and increase lifespan for many, most available data focus on short-term outcomes, and high-quality long-term research remains limited. Furthermore, patients and providers seemingly experience uncertainty regarding postoperative outcomes, frequently attributing suboptimal results to each other. To explore these uncertainties alongside broader elements of the surgical experience, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with Canadian women who had received surgery at least 1 year prior and registered dietitians who currently or previously worked in bariatric surgery in Canada, using reflexive thematic analysis and thinking with theory to analyze data. We constructed three themes: (1) Surgical uncertainty and “misplaced” optimism; (2) Promise of certainty through pathologization; and (3) (Dis)honesty: Nondisclosure as uncertainty management. We argue that bariatric professionals must engage more transparently with uncertainty and evidentiary gaps to mitigate medical bias and provide more meaningful support to patients considering or living with the outcomes of the procedure.
This study examines how diabetes news in the Turkish national press articulates biological citizenship and how this discourse is shaped through sourcing practices. It is based on a qualitative content analysis of 139 diabetes-related news articles published on the websites of the Turkish newspapers Hürriyet and Sözcü throughout 2023. The analysis considers modes of news production, sourcing preferences, reported causes and complications of diabetes, and treatment and prevention recommendations. The findings show that diabetes coverage gives prominence to an individualizing register of biological citizenship, foregrounding lifestyle regulation, personal responsibility, and self-management. Social inequalities, structural determinants, and public responsibilities are not entirely absent, but remain marginal within the news discourse. Food-centered recommendations, complication narratives that mobilize fear and anxiety, and articles based on single or unspecified sources make diabetes intelligible primarily as a condition to be managed through individual regulation of the body. The study also shows that this self-management orientation persists even in articles based on mixed or relatively stronger sourcing. It argues that biological citizenship is articulated and reproduced not only at the level of content but also through sourcing practices and wider journalistic contexts. It further suggests that this discourse calls citizens/patients to self-management through a persistent sense of lack.
