'You've Made These Choices…These Are the Consequences'. General Nurses' Perspectives on Caring for Young People With Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterised by an alteration in patterns of food intake and have a high risk of mortality. Eating disorders are particularly challenging to treat because they encompass both mental and physical domains of healthcare, requiring a complex multidisciplinary approach that often involves clinicians who may only have singular training: Medical or mental health. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences and perspectives of general paediatric nurses caring for young people with medically compromised eating disorders in a general paediatric setting. We used a qualitative descriptive design, employing thematic analysis to analyse interview transcripts of general paediatric nurses (n = 13) in a tertiary hospital in Victoria, Australia. Several themes emerged from the data including (1) Confidence in therapeutic engagement, (2) Stigma in Practice and (3) Impact of restrictive interventions. To help young people with eating disorders, common mental health practices such as trauma-informed care, therapeutic alliance and least restrictive practices must form the basis for general medical management and stabilisation. Nurses working in this environment need further training and support to ensure that they can provide best-practice mental health care to young, vulnerable people with dynamic and complex needs.