Box 3. Codes and themes generated by the process of thematic synthesis.

INITIAL CODES (LINE-BY-LINE CODING)	DESCRIPTIVE THEMES	ANALYTICAL THEMES
Anxiety/Fear	Going outside the comfort zone: hard relational experiences of health professionals in providing care for people with anorexia nervosa/bulimia nervosa	ANALYTICAL THEME 1: Making work with eating disorders palatable: malleability necessary for health professionals in bonding with people with anorexia nervosa/bulimia nervosa and their families ANALYTICAL THEME 2: Leaving the professional comfort zone: transition from multi to interdisciplinary
Frustration
Doubt
Difficulty
Lack of knowledge
Hope
Empathy
Valuing the promotion of bond
Difficulty in therapeutic alliance
Difficulty in communication
Difficulty in expressing feelings
Denial of the disease
Non-engagement in treatment
Negative feelings from patients
Relapse in treatment
Complexity of the disease
Tube feeding
Intensive care
Increase in cases
Physical health
Mental health
Loneliness
Social aspects
Medical support
Flexibility/Individuality
Responsibility and commitment
Multidisciplinary team - importance	Reflecting on treatment: relevance of discussion, communication, and flexibility in health professionals’ work with anorexia nervosa/bulimia nervosa
Impasses in teamwork
Communication between different services
Lack of time
Lack of resources
Planning/Protocol
Knowledge/Experience
Therapeutic groups
Support from other people diagnosed
Develop skills
No separation between body/mind
Weight gain
Feeding
Social support	Dealing with ambivalences: experiences of health professionals with family members of people with anorexia nervosa/bulimia nervosa in the therapeutic context
Importance of family members
Difficulties of family members

Source: prepared by the authors.