Themes

There was enthusiastic participation and a lot of helpful comments about the research during the workshops. People generally strongly endorsed the findings as fitting what they experienced themselves. They tended to have relatively few things to add to the findings about the decision-making process, and few contradictions. All of these validated the results of the research, that is, it made it more likely that the results obtained by the research do really reflect the situation for, or views of, many other people who may be in similar situations.

 

In addition to validating the results of the research, participants in the workshops provided a lot of personal examples to illustrate the findings of the research. They raised several practical points about decision-making and made some suggestions about how the whole process can be improved. Most participants in the workshops felt that there needs to be more education and knowledge about the nature of anorexia nervosa for everyone. Examples suggested were more information for families about the stages of anorexia nervosa so they have a ‘roadmap' and are more prepared for what they might have to experience; education of general practitioners in how to recognise the disorder and respond to the anxieties of families and carers especially when the person is not recognising any problems or wanting help; and more involvement of professionals such as health visitors or surgery nurses who know and can support the family. Participants also talked about the importance of early intervention before anorexia nervosa takes hold, because recognising and dealing with it before it has become a serious disorder can lead to rapid resolution and recovery without having to go through all the painful stages of anorexia nervosa.

 

Most of the new developments that arose from the workshops were in the area of the Stages of Anorexia Nervosa. The formulation of the stages we presented was tentative as it was based on a relatively small number of participants, so this was to be expected. The workshop participants generally validated the idea of different stages and most agreed with the nature of the stages as described. They had many creative and interesting suggestions about how to elaborate these stages.

 

We will summarise some of the feedback about decision-making in general, and also present a synthesis of the many creative suggestions made for the Stages of Anorexia Nervosa. To read these, please follow the links below:

 

•  Different perspectives, how they can be helpful, and how different people saw the research results as well as how different people viewed the dilemmas which were discussed - click here for more

•  Different ways of looking at the stages of anorexia nervosa - click here for more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legend: People telling Jacinta what they think at the Liverpool workshop