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Welcome!
Anorexia nervosa is a mental disorder which can have a serious effect on physical and psychological health. It is a characteristic of anorexia nervosa that many people who have it can struggle to accept treatment or even acknowledge that they are unwell. At the same time, anorexia nervosa can lead to rapid or severe weight loss. This weight loss and the strategies some people use in order to lose weight can be dangerous, placing people with anorexia nervosa at considerable risk of physical harm or even death. Carers and health professionals may become concerned, and this can lead to conflict and disagreements about treatment. Sometimes people who have anorexia nervosa are compelled to have treatment.
BUT: Is it ethically justifiable or acceptable to compel people with anorexia nervosa to have treatment?
To answer this question, we wanted to find out what people with anorexia nervosa think about this issue. We also wanted to find out what might justify making people have treatment they don't agree to. Finally, we wanted to find out whether people with anorexia nervosa might have particular problems in making decisions about treatment, and in what way this might happen.
The Wellcome Trust, a medical research charity, has funded research to further our understanding in this area. This research explores how people with anorexia nervosa make treatment decisions, by interviewing the people with anorexia nervosa and parents themselves. The Wellcome Trust has also funded a series of workshops where some of the results of this research have been presented to people with anorexia nervosa, carers and health professionals, in order to validate the results and publicise them.
This website has been developed in order to inform people with anorexia nervosa, carers, health professionals and researchers about the results of this research, including the feedback from the workshops and the role that this type of research method, called empirical ethics research, can play in medical ethics. All the quotations in this report are used with the consent of research participants.
To see what we found in our research, click here
To find out more about the workshops, click here
We welcome feedback – please e-mail us if you have any comments or questions.
What is medical ethics?
What is empirical ethics research?
Copyright Copyright © Jacinta Tan, 2008. Jacinta Tan has asserted her right under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of this website and web report at http://www.psychiatricethics.org.uk/ANwebreport/ as well as the associated printed and downloadable reports. The quotations in this report and the associated website are used with permission of the research participants, who have generously shared of their experiences and agreed to anonymised quotations being used in the academic reports and publications arising from this research. The participants have not agreed to other uses outside the research, so these quotations should not be used either in full or in part without quoting their context and origin. Please also use any quotations respectfully because they reflect people's experiences and feelings. The photographs have been taken for the report with the permission of the workshop participants. All the content as well as the ideas contained in this website and report belong to Jacinta Tan and her colleagues and should not be used without permission or without quoting the source. Please contact Jacinta if you have any questions about copyright and use. |