Maternalism: a healthy alliance for recovery and transition in eating disorder services

Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
K M Wright

Abstract

The therapeutic relationship is pivotal to mental health nursing, but very little is known about how it is experienced in adult eating disorder services. This paper reports on a research project that sought to discover how the therapeutic relationship is experienced between care workers and women with anorexia nervosa in an adult eating disorder service. Both care workers and women spoke of a relationship that had similarities to the mother-daughter relationship, that it felt therapeutic and that it was in keeping with a professional and compassionate nursing approach. These findings provide new insight. Maternalism is seen as a positive, nurturing and transient relationship that ensures the safety of the person and promotes recovery and transition to eventual independence. This paper reports on a UK interpretative phenomenological research study that aimed to explore the lived experience of the relationship between women with anorexia and their care workers in the context of a specialist eating disorder (ED) unit. Here, the concept of maternalism as a phenomenon occurring within the therapeutic relationship in specialist ED units is discussed. Consideration is given to the parallel roles of the health care worker whose duty it...Continue Reading

References

Sep 29, 1999·Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie·A S Kaplan, P E Garfinkel
Jul 25, 2000·Journal of Advanced Nursing·S J King, de Sales Turner
May 1, 1989·The International Journal of Eating Disorders·Elliot Goldner
Dec 4, 2002·Nursing Inquiry·Theodore Stickley, Dawn Freshwater
Apr 12, 2003·British Journal of Nursing : BJN·Anne Clarkson
Aug 1, 1953·Nursing Outlook·E U WRIGHT
Mar 11, 2004·Journal of Advanced Nursing·Lucie Michelle Ramjan
Apr 13, 2006·Gastroenterology Nursing : the Official Journal of the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates·Sarah Breier-Mackie
May 5, 2006·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines·Jonathan Green
Aug 24, 2006·British Journal of Nursing : BJN·Martin Christensen, Jaqui Hewitt-Taylor
Jul 20, 2007·International Journal of Mental Health Nursing·Karen WrightMick McKeown
Oct 24, 2007·International Journal of Nursing Studies·Elizabeth A SmytheDeborah G Spence
May 27, 2010·Journal of Clinical Nursing·Lynlee SnellJenny Jordan
Nov 15, 2011·Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing·K M Wright, S Hacking
Mar 6, 2012·International Review of Psychiatry·Rachel Perkins, Mike Slade
Oct 2, 2012·International Journal of Mental Health Nursing·Louise ByrneLorna Jane Moxham

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Jan 20, 2017·Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing·M McKeownD Mercer
Jan 7, 2020·The International Journal of Eating Disorders·Meghan R GrahamJohn R E Fox
May 28, 2019·Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association·Carrie Morgan Eaton

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric condition characterized by severe weight loss and secondary problems associated with malnutrition. Here is the latest research on AN.