Restoration of normal eating behaviour: Nursing interventions during meals for adolescents with anorexia nervosa, a video analysis.

Title Restoration of normal eating behaviour: Nursing interventions during meals for adolescents with anorexia nervosa, a video analysis. Background Restoration of normal eating behaviour is an important part of inpatient treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa, who are trying to regain normal body weight. Nurses play a significant role in teaching adolescents with anorexia how to eat again, because of their care and guidance during meals. However, little is known about the interventions that nurses provide during meals to adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Aim and research question The purpose of this study was to describe the nursing interventions in order to restore normal eating behaviour. The research question was: Which interventions, with the goal to restore normal eating behaviour, do nurses in a specialised eating disorders centre provide during meals to adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and in the first phase of their treatment? Method A qualitative descriptive design was applied with video recordings made of the principle meals during the day. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results Four categories of interventions emerged from the data: (1) Monitoring and Instructing, (2) Encouraging and Motivating, (3) Supporting and Understanding and (4) Educating. Furthermore the data showed a nursing attitude of direction and control, but always brought with empathy and understanding. Conclusion Nurses are on the one hand focussed on patients’ behavioural change concerning their eating pattern, but they also address the psychosocial care of the patients and their struggle to restore their eating behaviour. Furthermore, supporting adolescents with anorexia in restoring normal eating behaviour, is part of high complex care and requires specialist nursing skills. Recommendations We recommend that the findings in this research are used to improve nursing guidelines and nursing education programs. We also recommend that a similar study is conducted among other age groups, to compare those results with the results from this study. Keywords anorexia nervosa, nursing interventions, adolescents, eating behaviour, video-analysis