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Constructing ‘the eating disordered patient’ 1: A discourse analysis of accounts of treatment experiences
Author(s) -
Malson H.,
Finn D. M.,
Treasure J.,
Clarke S.,
Anderson G.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.804
Subject(s) - eating disorders , anorexia nervosa , psychology , discourse analysis , bulimia nervosa , disordered eating , psychological intervention , anorexia , psychiatry , semi structured interview , content analysis , psychotherapist , qualitative research , clinical psychology , sociology , medicine , social science , linguistics , philosophy
In this study 39 participants who had all been hospitalized, either in Britain or Australia, at least once for anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia, were interviewed about their experiences of treatment for an eating disorder. Each interview lasted approximately 1 hour and was semi‐structured in nature covering: (i) the beginning of participants' problems and their initial diagnosis; (ii) their history of previous interventions; (iii) their current in‐patient treatment episode; (iv) their views on their recovery and future. Interview was audio‐tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The resulting interview transcripts were then analysed qualitatively using a discourse analytic methodology in order to identify the ways in which participants discursively constituted their treatment experiences. More specifically, the article focuses on an analysis of how ‘the eating disordered patient’ was constituted in participants' accounts both as a self‐construction and as a construction attributed to healthcare workers. The implications of these subject im/positions of ‘the eating disordered patient’ are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.