Perspectives on Eating Disorders and Service Provision: A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Professionals

Reid, Marie.; Williams, Sarah.; Burr, Jennifer.

doi:10.1002/erv.976

Authors

Professor Marie Reid M.Reid@hull.ac.uk
Professor/ Director of MSc Clinical Applications of Psychology/ Athena Swan lead for Psychology

Sarah Williams

Jennifer Burr

Abstract

The study examined healthcare professionals' perspectives of eating disorder patients and services. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 healthcare professionals resulting in two themes. First, the practical difficulties of meeting the complex service needs of people with eating disorders were illustrated. Second, staff recognised patient diversity and the consequent need for individualised interventions. Services are frustrated in meeting patient needs due to complex resource limitations, which do not amount only to lack of funding. Rather than eating disordered patients being viewed as 'difficult', as reported in previous qualitative research, they are only difficult in a context of limited resources. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2010-09
Journal	EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW
Print ISSN	1072-4133
Electronic ISSN	1099-0968
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	18
Issue	5
Pages	390-398
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.976
Keywords	healthcare professionals' perspectives eating disorders specialist services qualitative service evaluation anorexia-nervosa bulimia-nervosa nurses adolescents
Publisher URL	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/erv.976