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The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK

Batchelor, Rachel; Cribben, Hannah; Macdonald, Pamela; Treasure, Janet; Cini, Erica; Nicholls, Dasha; Kan, Carol; (2022) The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK. BJPsych Open , 8 (2) , Article E76. 10.1192/bjo.2022.43. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Caring for a loved one with an eating disorder typically comes with a multitude of challenges, yet siblings and partners are often overlooked. It is important to understand if current clinical guidance for supporting carers are effective and being utilised for these groups, to help meet their needs.// Aims: To identify the experiential perspectives of siblings and partners of a loved one with an eating disorder compared with guidance for improving the adequacy of support provided to carers published by Beat and Academy for Eating Disorders.// Method: Three online focus groups were held for ten siblings and five partners from across the UK (12 females and three males). Carers had experience of caring for a loved one with anorexia nervosa (13 carers) or bulimia nervosa (two carers), across a range of therapeutic settings. Focus group transcriptions were analysed with thematic analysis.// Results: Four key themes were identified: (a) role-specific needs, (b) challenges encountered by siblings and partners, (c) generic needs and helpful strategies or approaches, and (d) accounts of service provision and family support.// Conclusions: Overall, the majority of experiences reported by siblings and partners did not meet the published guidance. Consequently, clinical practice recommendations were identified for services, alongside the charity sector, to take a proactive approach in detecting difficulties, providing skills training and emotional/practical support, adapting/tailoring peer support groups and supporting online facilitation. Our findings part-informed the design of our national online survey on loved ones’ experiences of care in eating disorders.

Type: Article
Title: The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2022.43
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.43
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Eating disorders, carers, siblings, partners, service provision
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine > Experimental and Translational Medicine
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10175183
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