Eating Disorders – What the Patients Need

Left to right: Juni Raak Høiseth, Annika Alexandersen, Gunn Pettersen, and Dagfinn Bjørgen

KBT and ROS have received support from the Norwegian ExtraFoundation for Health and Rehabilitation in order to conduct a UIU-survey. The project will examine what former patients view to be crucial needs prior to, during, and after undergoing treatment of eating disorders. The work will be conducted together with Gunn Pettersen of UiT, the Arctic University of Norway.

The idea for the project came from Juni Raak Høiseth and Annika Alexandersen of KBT, who both have experience in struggling with eating disorders.

– There is little systematic information in Norwegian on what the patients themselves view to be important in their recovery process. We think this is important to figure out, as we ourselves have experienced that this can often be quite different from what professionals thinks. We hope this will be an important contribution to treating and understanding eating disorders from a user perspective, Alexandersen says.

The results will be presented in a booklet that will be made available online, and will be printed and distributed to health personnel, patients, user organizations- and representatives, and others who may have an interest in the topic.

 

Workshop in Trondheim and Oslo
In regards to the project, KBT invited to a workshop for professionals of different backgrounds and people with user experience. This was to give everyone a chance to provide input, comments and suggestions to what topics and questions were important to include in such a survey. The meeting had a great attendance, and many crucial topics were discussed, such as the need for increased knowledge in physicians and nurses, who are often introduced to the patients at an early stage.

Active participants at the workshop in Oslo. Top left to right: Juni Raak Høiseth, Nina Misvær, Mona Pettersen, Elisabeth Flood, Marit Ylvira Haugland, Thea Elversøe Solberg, Ane Ringstad Næs, Vigdis Wie Torsteinsson. Bottom left to right: Linn May Bulger, Vilde Bratland Hansen, Barbro Sætha.

TEXT: Juni Raak Høiseth
TRANSLATION: Lasse Barr