The experience of women with an eating disorder in the perinatal period : a meta-ethnographic study

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a time of enormous body transformation. For those with an eating disorder during pregnancy this time of transformation can be distressing and damaging to both the mother and the child. In this meta-ethnographic study, we aimed to examine the experiences of women with an Eating Disorder in the perinatal period; that is during pregnancy and two years following birth. Method: A meta-ethnographic framework was used in this review. After a systematic online search of the literature using the keywords such as pregnancy, eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, perinatal, postnatal and post-partum, 11 papers, involving 94 women, were included in the review. Results: A qualitative synthesis of the papers identified 2 key themes. The key theme that emerged during pregnancy was: navigating a ‘new’ eating disorder. The key that emerged in the perinatal period was return to the ‘old’ eating disorder. Conclusion: Following a tumultuous pregnancy experience, many described returning to their pre-pregnancy eating behaviors and thoughts. These experiences highlight the emotional difficulty experienced having an eating disorder whilst pregnant but they also point to opportunities for intervention and a continued acceptance of body image changes. More research is needed on the experiences of targeted treatment interventions specific for pregnant and postpartum women with an eating disorder and the effectiveness of putative treatment interventions during this period.
Original languageEnglish
Article number121
Number of pages18
JournalBMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Volume18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© The Author(s). 2018. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Keywords

  • anorexia nervosa
  • bulimia
  • eating disorders
  • midwives
  • mother and child
  • mothers
  • pregnancy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The experience of women with an eating disorder in the perinatal period : a meta-ethnographic study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this