TABLE 3.
Summary of included papers
| Study |
Authors (Year) Country |
Aim | Sample characteristics | Type of eating disorder | Type of service | Data collection | Analytic approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Colton and Pistrang (2004) UK |
To provide a detailed description of how adolescents on inpatient, specialist eating disorder units view their treatment. |
N = 19 (19 female) Aged 12–17 years (mean = 15.4 years) White British n = 17; White Irish n = 1; Afro‐Caribbean n = 1 |
All had primary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa | Adolescent inpatient eating disorder service | Semi‐structured interviews | Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003) |
| 2. |
Eli (2014) Israel |
To identify the ways in which inpatient ambivalence might be embedded in the special social institutional setting that an eating disorder ward presents, beyond patient‐specific motivation for recovery. |
N = 13 (12 female; 1 male) Aged 18–38 years |
“Anorexia nervosa or eating disorder not otherwise specified” (N = 12); bulimia nervosa (N = 1) | Inpatient eating disorder ward for adults | Semi‐structured interviews | Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 1999; Smith & Osborn, 2003) |
| 3. |
Escobar‐Koch et al. (2010) USA and UK |
To obtain an in‐depth view of a large number of US and UK eating disorder patients' perspectives on treatment and service provision, to perform a comparison between these countries. |
N = 294 UK: N = 150 (145 female; 5 male) Mean age = 26.6 years USA: N = 144 (140 female; 4 male) Mean age = 30.1 years |
Not specified; inclusion criteria = “a person with an eating disorder” | Not specified | Online questionnaire (open‐ended questions) | Conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) |
| 4. |
Escobar‐Koch et al. (2012) Chile |
To identify the views of Chilean patients who have received treatment for an eating disorder about these treatments, including aspects they value, and feel have helped them in their recovery as well as aspects they feel have hindered their recovery or been missing from their treatments. |
N = 10 (10 female) Aged 16–47 years (mean = 30.7 years) |
Bulimia nervosa (N = 6); anorexia nervosa (N = 3); eating disorder not otherwise specified (N = 1) | Treated for eating disorder at general hospital | Semi‐structured interviews | Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) |
| 5. |
Fogarty and Ramjan (2016) UK and Australia |
To better understand the care experience during treatment for anorexia nervosa in individuals with self‐reported anorexia nervosa or recovery from anorexia nervosa. |
N = 161 (75 female) Mean age = 25.11 years (Note: only 46.6% of participants completed age/gender questions) |
Self‐reported anorexia nervosa | Inpatient, outpatient, or combination of both (reported by 97% of respondents) | Online questionnaire (open‐ended questions) | Conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) |
| 6. |
Fox and Diab (2015) UK |
To explore sufferer's perceived experiences of living with and being treated within an eating disorders unit for their chronic anorexia nervosa |
N = 6 (6 female) Aged 19–50 years (mean = 27 years) |
Chronic anorexia nervosa | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2004) |
| 7. |
Joyce et al. (2019) UK |
To explore the following questions: 1. What are people's experiences of receiving input from services for long‐term eating disorders? 2. What are the social, political, and cultural narratives which impact on those experiences? |
N = 8 (7 female; 1 male) Aged 20–64 years (mean = 44 years) |
Severe and enduring eating disorder (specific type of eating disorder not reported) | “Self‐reported experience of specialist eating disorder services”; multiple inpatient admission (N = 5); singular inpatient admission (N = 1); no inpatient admission (N = 2) | Interviews with a focus on narrative inquiry | Narrative Analysis (e.g., Crossley, 2000, 2007; Howitt, 2010; Riessman, 1993, 2008; Weatherhead, 2011) |
| 8. |
Lindstedt et al. (2015) Sweden |
To investigate how young people with experience from adolescent outpatient treatment for eating disorders, involving family‐based and individual based interventions, perceive their time in treatment. |
N = 15 (14 female; 1 male) Aged 13–18 years |
Anorexia nervosa (N = 6); eating disorder not otherwise specified (“with a restrictive symptomology”) (N = 9) | Outpatient and/or inpatient (inpatient N = 4) | Semi‐structured interviews | Hermeneutic phenomenological approach (van Manen, 1997) |
| 9. |
Maine (1985) USA |
To examine the efficacy of treatment of anorexia from the recovered patient's point of view, with the underlying assumption that she best knows the interactions of phenomena stimulating or threatening her recovery. |
N = 25 (25 female) Aged 13–23 years (mean = 16.8 years) |
Anorexia nervosa | Combination of inpatient and outpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic content analysis (Holsti, 1968) |
| 10. |
Malson et al. (2004) Australia and UK |
To explore participants' accounts of their treatment experiences and, in particular, to elucidate the ways in which “the eating disordered patient” is constituted both in terms of participants' self‐constructions and of constructions of “the patient” that are attributed to healthcare workers. |
N = 39 (38 female; 1 male) Aged 14–45 years |
Anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia nervosa | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Discourse analysis (Burman & Parker, 1993; Potter, 2003; Potter & Wetherell, 1987) |
| 11. |
Offord et al. (2006) UK |
To explore young adults' views regarding: The inpatient treatment they received for anorexia nervosa during their adolescences; their experiences of discharge; and the impact their admission had on issues of control and low self‐esteem. |
N = 7 (7 female) Aged 16–23 years White British N = 7 |
Anorexia nervosa | Inpatient (general adolescent inpatient setting) | Semi‐structured interviews | Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003) |
| 12. |
Patterson et al. (2017) Australia |
To assess the perceived helpfulness of various components of treatment, and clinician behaviours and attitudes valued by patients. |
N = 12 (12 female) Aged 18–50 years |
Anorexia nervosa‐binge‐purge subtype (N = 1); anorexia nervosa‐restrictive subtype (N = 11) | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Framework approach (Gale, Heath, Cameron, Rashid & Redwood, 2013) |
| 13. |
Rance et al. (2017) UK |
To begin the process of eliciting clients' views by giving anorexia nervosa sufferers the opportunity to talk about their experiences of being treated for their eating disorder. |
N = 12 (12 female) Aged 18–50 years (mean = 31.5 years) |
Anorexia nervosa (self‐diagnosis N = 1) | Combination on inpatient and outpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2013) |
| 14. |
Reid et al. (2008) UK |
To describe sufferers' perspectives of their eating disorders and their experiences of an outpatient service and provide related practical recommendations for treatment. |
N = 20 (19 female; 1 male) Aged 17–41 years |
Anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia nervosa | Outpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) |
| 15. |
Ross and Green (2011) UK |
To consider the question of whether inpatient admission was a therapeutic experience for two women with chronic anorexia nervosa. |
N = 2 (2 female) Aged 18+ |
Anorexia nervosa | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Narrative thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) |
| 16. |
Rother and Buckroyd (2004) UK |
To identify the service provision used, if any, by adolescent sufferers of eating disorders and what, in their opinion, would have been desirable at that time. |
N = 6 (6 female) Aged ~18–28 years (Note: Recruitment targeted 18‐ to 28‐year‐olds; actual ages of final sample unknown) |
Not specified | “Past adult users of a voluntary sector agency”; does not specify service type | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic qualitative analysis (Huberman & Miles, 1988) |
| 17. |
Sheridan and McArdle (2016) Republic of Ireland |
To explore the treatment experiences of both current and discharged eating disorder patients to gain insight into those factors that influenced their motivational treatment trajectory |
N = 14 (14 female) Aged 18–31 years (mean = 23.2 years) |
Anorexia nervosa (N = 6); bulimia nervosa (N = 2); other specified feeding or eating disorder (N = 3) | Inpatient and outpatient (N = 9) or outpatient only (N = 5) | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) |
| 18. |
Smith et al. (2016) UK |
To explore women's experiences of specialist inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa during their treatment admission. |
N = 21 (21 female) Aged 18–41 years (mean = 25.2 years) |
Anorexia nervosa | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) |
| 19. |
(Thapliyal et al., 2020) Australasia and North America |
To investigate the treatment experiences of a group of men who had sought help, were diagnosed with an eating disorder, and received eating disorder specific treatment. |
N = 8 (8 male) Aged 20–33 years (mean = 26 years) |
Anorexia nervosa (N = 4); bulimia nervosa (N = 3); orthorexia (N = 1) | Combination of inpatient and outpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Pope, Ziebland & Mays, 2000) |
| 20. |
Tierney (2008) UK |
To explore the views of young people about being treated for anorexia nervosa. |
N = 10 (9 female; 1 male) Aged 11–18 years (mean = 17 years) Caucasian N = 10 |
Anorexia nervosa‐restrictive subtype (N = 5); anorexia nervosa‐binge‐purge subtype (N = 5) | Combination of inpatient and outpatient service input | Semi‐structured interviews | Thematic analysis (Smith, Harre & Van Langenhare, 1995) |
| 21. |
Walker and Lloyd (2011) Australia |
To explore the service user's perspectives of treatment experiences. |
N = 6 (6 female) Aged 18+ years |
Anorexia nervosa‐restrictive subtype (N = 2); anorexia nervosa‐binge‐purge subtype (N = 1); bulimia nervosa (N = 3) | Not specified; recruited from caseloads of an eating disorder service so all participants had some service input at time of study; criteria states: “not currently receiving inpatient treatment” | Focus group | Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill et al., 1997) |
| 22. |
Wu and Harrison (2019) China |
To understand the experiences of four adolescents receiving inpatient treatment for eating disorders in mainland China. |
N = 4 (4 female) Aged 16–19 years |
Anorexia nervosa‐binge‐purge subtype | Inpatient | Semi‐structured interviews | Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Osborn, 1997; Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009) |