“Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes

Abstract Background Eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses with potentially life-threatening consequences. Inpatient treatment is typically required for the most severely ill patients, who are often emaciated or significantly malnourished. A core therapeutic objective is to normalize eating patt...

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Main Authors: Trine Wiig Hage, Øyvind Rø, Anne Moen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2017-07-01
Series:BMC Nursing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12912-017-0233-3
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spelling doaj-5d62991dcc1741b4bd29c249a84f03902020-11-25T00:49:51ZengBMCBMC Nursing1472-69552017-07-011611910.1186/s12912-017-0233-3“Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimesTrine Wiig Hage0Øyvind Rø1Anne Moen2Institute for Health and Society, University of OsloOslo University Hospital, Regional Department of Eating Disorders, Division of Mental Health and AddictionInstitute for Health and Society, University of OsloAbstract Background Eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses with potentially life-threatening consequences. Inpatient treatment is typically required for the most severely ill patients, who are often emaciated or significantly malnourished. A core therapeutic objective is to normalize eating patterns and facilitate weight gain. These goals guide the efforts of milieu therapeutic staff working with this patient group, who support renourishment through the positive manipulation of a structured environment, as well via relational aspects. However, there is a lack of empirical research exploring inpatient staff members’ perspectives concerning various aspects of this work. This article explore staff’s teamwork during mealtimes on inpatient eating disorder units. Specifically, we investigated the collaborative strategies employed to support core therapeutic goals of meal completion and normalized eating behavior, while concurrently maintaining a supportive, friendly atmosphere during mealtimes. Methods This was a exploratory qualitative study. Data was collected through 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with staff members working on a specialized eating disorder unit. The interviews were performed after the conduction of meal time support. Cultural historical activity theory was used as the key theoretical tool for analysis. Results The analysis revealed three main themes: 1) strategic seating arrangements mediates division of labor, 2) the use of verbal and nonverbal communication as collaborative tools, and 3) the importance of experience as a collaborative resource. Conclusions The present study found that mealtime collaborative strategies on inpatient EDUs were mainly of non-verbal nature, with level of experience as an important premise for staff collaboration. Greater awareness about how collegial collaboration is practiced may help staff members to learn routines and regulate scripts for mealtime practices.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12912-017-0233-3Staff membersEating disordersCollaborative practiceInterviewsCultural historical activity theoryMealtimes
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Trine Wiig Hage
Øyvind Rø
Anne Moen
spellingShingle Trine Wiig Hage
Øyvind Rø
Anne Moen
“Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
BMC Nursing
Staff members
Eating disorders
Collaborative practice
Interviews
Cultural historical activity theory
Mealtimes
author_facet Trine Wiig Hage
Øyvind Rø
Anne Moen
author_sort Trine Wiig Hage
title “Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
title_short “Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
title_full “Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
title_fullStr “Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
title_full_unstemmed “Do you see what I mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
title_sort “do you see what i mean?” staff collaboration in eating disorder units during mealtimes
publisher BMC
series BMC Nursing
issn 1472-6955
publishDate 2017-07-01
description Abstract Background Eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses with potentially life-threatening consequences. Inpatient treatment is typically required for the most severely ill patients, who are often emaciated or significantly malnourished. A core therapeutic objective is to normalize eating patterns and facilitate weight gain. These goals guide the efforts of milieu therapeutic staff working with this patient group, who support renourishment through the positive manipulation of a structured environment, as well via relational aspects. However, there is a lack of empirical research exploring inpatient staff members’ perspectives concerning various aspects of this work. This article explore staff’s teamwork during mealtimes on inpatient eating disorder units. Specifically, we investigated the collaborative strategies employed to support core therapeutic goals of meal completion and normalized eating behavior, while concurrently maintaining a supportive, friendly atmosphere during mealtimes. Methods This was a exploratory qualitative study. Data was collected through 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with staff members working on a specialized eating disorder unit. The interviews were performed after the conduction of meal time support. Cultural historical activity theory was used as the key theoretical tool for analysis. Results The analysis revealed three main themes: 1) strategic seating arrangements mediates division of labor, 2) the use of verbal and nonverbal communication as collaborative tools, and 3) the importance of experience as a collaborative resource. Conclusions The present study found that mealtime collaborative strategies on inpatient EDUs were mainly of non-verbal nature, with level of experience as an important premise for staff collaboration. Greater awareness about how collegial collaboration is practiced may help staff members to learn routines and regulate scripts for mealtime practices.
topic Staff members
Eating disorders
Collaborative practice
Interviews
Cultural historical activity theory
Mealtimes
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12912-017-0233-3
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