Nyttige faktorer for tilfriskning av anoreksi: spørreskjemaresultater fra pasienter og foreldre

Abstract

Aims: To investigate how former patients with adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN) and their parents retrospectively rated various factors that had been helpful to recovery, and how parents rated factors that had been helpful to them in their caregiving role. Method: 34 former patients, 40 mothers and 20 fathers who had participated in specialised family-based inpatient treatment for AN completed questionnaires at follow-up approximately 4.5 years after discharge. Results: Both patients and parents rated the patient’s own wish to recover, willpower and determination as the most important factors, followed by support from the mother. Support from the father, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend and further treatment after the family admission was also rated as an important factor. The parents rated their relationship with their children, support from their spouse and the family admission as the factors most helpful to their role as caregivers. Implications: Our findings support the importance of the patient’s own motivation and agency for long-term recovery from AN. The patients and parents also found that parental support had been crucial to recovery. Keywords: anorexia nervosa, eating disorders, helpful factors for adolescents, helpful factors for parents