LaMarre Andrea, Hellner Megan, Silverstein Scout, Baker Jessica H, Urban Bek, Yourell Jacqlyn, Wolfe Hannah, Perry Taylor, Steinberg Dori
Independent Researcher, Halifax, Canada.
Equip Health, 2659 State Street Suite 100 #1012, Carlsbad, CA, 92008, USA.
J Eat Disord. 2024 Jul 8;12(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s40337-024-01045-5.
Deeply engaging with the expertise of those who have experienced or supported someone with an eating disorder can add to a growing body of knowledge about recovery processes. In this qualitative study, we sought to explore and generate nuanced understandings of recovery experiences of people with a lived ED experience (first hand or as a caregiver) who were working as mentors in the field. To do this, we focused on changes that occur in personality, traits, and interests over the course of an eating disorder and into recovery.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 people with an eating disorder history, either through personal lived experience (n = 14) or as a caregiver of a loved one with an eating disorder (n = 13). We undertook a reflexive thematic analysis of the data through a critical realist lens.
We developed three themes, which illustrate the nonlinearity, relationality, and systemically linked nature of changes across experiences of having and recovering from an eating disorder. The first theme focuses on expansion; participants described how their worlds got bigger as they explored who they were becoming and discovered new ways of living in line with their values. The second theme emphasizes the balance between support and autonomy participants described as important for enabling change to occur across the recovery process. The last theme highlights the ways in which changes throughout the recovery process entwined with systemic factors, including actively pushing back against diet culture and weight stigma.
Participants' stories highlight interactions between individual, relational, and societal shifts that occur throughout the course of an ED and into recovery. They support ongoing calls to orient to ED recovery as situated within a broader social milieu, which invites us to build supportive environments to enable expansion and flourishing.
深入了解那些经历过饮食失调或支持过饮食失调患者的人的专业知识，有助于丰富有关康复过程的知识体系。在这项定性研究中，我们试图探索并深入理解有饮食失调亲身经历（无论是本人还是作为照顾者）且在该领域担任导师的人的康复经历。为此，我们关注饮食失调及康复过程中人格、特质和兴趣的变化。
我们对27名有饮食失调病史的人进行了半结构化访谈，其中14人有个人亲身经历，13人是饮食失调患者的照顾者。我们通过批判实在论的视角对数据进行了反思性主题分析。
我们确定了三个主题，这些主题说明了饮食失调及康复经历中变化的非线性、关联性和系统关联性。第一个主题聚焦于扩展；参与者描述了随着他们探索自己正在成为的样子并发现符合自身价值观的新的生活方式，他们的世界如何变得更广阔。第二个主题强调支持与自主性之间的平衡，参与者认为这对在整个康复过程中实现改变很重要。最后一个主题突出了康复过程中的变化与系统因素相互交织的方式，包括积极抵制节食文化和体重歧视。
参与者的故事突出了在饮食失调及康复过程中个人、关系和社会层面转变之间的相互作用。这些故事支持了持续的呼吁，即将饮食失调康复置于更广阔的社会环境中，这促使我们构建支持性环境以实现扩展和繁荣。
