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Qualitative Study of the Impact of Relationships With Other Patients During Inpatient Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2023

Elizabeth Jackson  and
Helen Bould
Elizabeth Jackson*
Affiliation:
Bristol Medical School, Bristol, United Kingdom
Helen Bould
Affiliation:
Centre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Science, School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

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Aims

We aimed to interview people who had received inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa, to explore their perspectives on the impact their interactions with other patients during their admission had on their recovery, including short term and longer term effects.

Methods

We recruited people who had experienced inpatient admission for treatment of anorexia nervosa, and who had been recovered from anorexia nervosa for at least 12 months. We conducted semi-structured, one-to-one interviews, with nine individuals specifically exploring the helpful and unhelpful aspects of peer relationships during inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

We interviewed nine individuals. Five themes were indentified: comparison and justification, learnt unhelpful behaviours, dealing with distress, new-found compassion, and role-modelling. All participants expressed conflicting feelings about their relationships with peers, but generally described more resilience in resisting negative effects as they got closer to recovery. Positive effects, such a new-found compassion, appeared to hold significance long term in participants’ ‘recovered’ lives.

Conclusion

The detailed exploration of themes in this study provides a deeper understanding of the complex nature of peer relationships amongst people experiencing inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa. This could aid clinical decision making when choosing appropriate treatment settings for individual patients as well as informing clinical practice in inpatient units.

Type
Research
Information
BJPsych Open , Volume 9 , Supplement S1: Abstracts from the RCPsych International Congress 2023, 10–13 July , July 2023 , pp. S54 - S55
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NC
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This does not need to be placed under each abstract, just each page is fine.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Footnotes

Abstracts were reviewed by the RCPsych Academic Faculty rather than by the standard BJPsych Open peer review process and should not be quoted as peer-reviewed by BJPsych Open in any subsequent publication.

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