Coopey Emily, Johnson George
Centre for Applied Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
J Eat Disord. 2022 Sep 2;10(1):131. doi: 10.1186/s40337-022-00614-w.
Men are believed to be underrepresented in eating disorder services; there are many reasons presented to account for this such as a lack of recognition and detection. Due to the physical and psychological complexity of an eating disorder it is important to understand this underrepresentation. This qualitative evidence synthesis aimed to explore the literature relating to men's experiences of an eating disorder, in order to synthesise the findings and offer a more coherent understanding.
A systematic search of the literature was undertaken. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to the findings resulting in 14 papers deemed suitable for inclusion. A Meta-Ethnographic approach to synthesising the data of the 89 participants was undertaken.
Four themes were identified: 'Societal Construction of the Perfect Male'; 'Striving to Maintain a Masculine Identity'; 'The Interconnectedness of Control and Self-Worth', and 'The Hidden Man'. There appeared to be an underlying concept relating to the conflict of being a man, with what is perceived to be a 'woman's illness' and how this challenged the men's experiences of masculinity.
Being a man with an eating disorder conflicted with societal norms, exacerbating their experience of having an eating disorder.. To resolve this, gendered norms need to shift, at societal level as well as considering how best to improve understanding and recognition of men with an eating disorder at the first point of help seeking.
人们认为饮食失调服务机构中男性患者人数不足；对此有诸多原因，比如缺乏认知和检测。由于饮食失调在生理和心理方面的复杂性，了解这种代表性不足的情况很重要。这项定性证据综合分析旨在探究与男性饮食失调经历相关的文献，以便综合研究结果并提供更连贯的理解。
对文献进行了系统检索。将纳入和排除标准应用于检索结果，最终有14篇论文被认为适合纳入。采用元民族志方法对89名参与者的数据进行综合分析。
确定了四个主题：“完美男性的社会建构”；“努力维持男性身份认同”；“控制与自我价值的相互联系”，以及“隐藏的男性”。似乎存在一个与身为男性的冲突相关的潜在概念，即与被视为“女性疾病”的冲突，以及这如何挑战男性的男性气质体验。
患有饮食失调症的男性与社会规范相冲突，加剧了他们饮食失调的经历。为解决这一问题，需要在社会层面转变性别规范，并考虑如何在寻求帮助的第一时间更好地增进对患有饮食失调症男性的理解和认知。
