Dataset Information

A mixed-methods approach to conceptualizing friendships in anorexia nervosa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Individuals with anorexia nervosa have reported feelings of loneliness, social anhedonia, and interpersonal difficulties. This study sought to clarify the nature of interpersonal relationships in adults with anorexia, which may help improve existing interventions while also facilitating the attainment of something that might compete with the drive for thinness: friendships.

Methods

The present study used a mixed-methods approach to investigate friendship experiences in three groups: anorexia (n = 27), participants with a history of anorexia who are weight restored (n = 20), and healthy controls (n = 24). Thematic analysis was used to isolate the most prevalent themes that emerged from an open-ended interview of experiencing friendships in a subset of participants. Three self-report questionnaires investigating friendship valuation and attachment styles were also administered.

Results

11 unique themes emerged in the data: social comparison, reciprocity, trust, fear of negative evaluation, perceived skills deficit, logistical barriers, reliability, identity issue, low interest, similarity, and conflict avoidance. Only 17% of those with anorexia reported experiencing friendships as positive, relative to 82% of healthy controls and 52% of weight restored participants. Lastly, on self-report measures, participants with anorexia reported greater reliance on themselves versus others, greater use of care-seeking behaviors, and more fear/anger at the thought of losing an attachment figure (p < .05 in all cases).

Conclusion

Results suggest that individuals with anorexia have particular challenges which interfere with the formation and maintenance of friendships, such as viewing friendships negatively and struggling with social comparisons in friendships. Assessing and addressing barriers to intimacy may motivate those with anorexia to relinquish dangerous symptoms that maintain the illness.

SUBMITTER: Datta N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8443043 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Anorexia nervosa is a serious disorder, which often takes a chronic course. Early treatment leads to a significantly better prognosis and prevents chronicity. However, existing evidence on facilitators and barriers in anorexia nervosa treatment initiation is scarce. AIMS:Against this background, the FABIANA study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03713541) aims to (a) identify potentially modifiable facilitators and barriers from the perspectives of adolescent and adult patients with anorexia nervosa, carers and physicians, (b) develop and test an instrument for the combined assessment of multiple key facilitators and barriers, and (c) quantify the effect of potentially modifiable versus non-modifiable key facilitators and barriers on the duration of untreated illness (DUI) in patients with anorexia nervosa. METHOD:FABIANA is an observational, mixed-method-study divided into three consecutive substudies each corresponding to one of the study aims. All three substudies will include female patients with anorexia nervosa aged 14 years and older at the beginning of their first psychotherapeutic anorexia nervosa treatment. The qualitative substudy I and the quantitative substudy III will additionally include carers and involved physicians. The recruitment will take place at 20 cooperating study centres throughout Germany, which provide in-patient or out-patient anorexia nervosa specialist care. The DUI will be calculated based on the month of illness onset as determined in validated interviews on lifetime anorexia nervosa symptoms and the therapist-reported date of treatment initiation. CONCLUSIONS:Strengths and limitations of the retrospective assessment of the DUI will be discussed. The findings of the FABIANA study will contribute to the development of evidence-based early-intervention approaches and the prevention of a chronic course of illness. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03713541. DECLARATION OF INTEREST:None.