The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK
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 t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2022-03-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472422000436/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156945734729728 |
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| author | Rachel Batchelor Hannah Cribben Pamela Macdonald Janet Treasure Erica Cini Dasha Nicholls Carol Kan |
| author_facet | Rachel Batchelor Hannah Cribben Pamela Macdonald Janet Treasure Erica Cini Dasha Nicholls Carol Kan |
| author_sort | Rachel Batchelor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:58:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c30a9f7b17574017a2b908818e091852 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:58:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-c30a9f7b17574017a2b908818e0918522023-03-09T12:29:19ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242022-03-01810.1192/bjo.2022.43The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UKRachel Batchelor0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0426-2388Hannah Cribben1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6810-8251Pamela Macdonald2Janet Treasure3Erica Cini4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0999-2379Dasha Nicholls5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7257-6605Carol Kan6Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UKInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UKInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UKInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UKEast London Eating Disorder Service for Children and Young People, East London NHS Foundation Trust, UK; and Nutrition Science Group, Division of Medicine, University College London, UKDivision of Psychiatry, Imperial College London, UKInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UKBackground 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. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472422000436/type/journal_articleEating disorderscarerssiblingspartnersservice provision |
| spellingShingle | Rachel Batchelor Hannah Cribben Pamela Macdonald Janet Treasure Erica Cini Dasha Nicholls Carol Kan The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK BJPsych Open Eating disorders carers siblings partners service provision |
| title | The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK |
| title_full | The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK |
| title_fullStr | The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK |
| title_full_unstemmed | The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK |
| title_short | The experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the UK |
| title_sort | experiential perspectives of siblings and partners caring for a loved one with an eating disorder in the uk |
| topic | Eating disorders carers siblings partners service provision |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472422000436/type/journal_article |
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