Eating disorders

An overview of systematic reviews of qualitative research from the perspectives of patients, health care professionals and family members

The Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU) has evaluated the perceptions, needs and desires of patients, family members and health care professionals regarding their experiences with eating disorders.

Reading time approx. 12 minutes Published: Publication type:

SBU Policy support

identifies and presents available scientific evidence to support policy and decision making, including the development of national guidelines, at other government agencies. In consultation with professional experts, SBU staff generates supporting documentation to address the various questions that have been posed.

Eating disorders are serious conditions that can cause major suffering for patients and their families. Better knowledge on how eating disorders and treatment of the conditions are perceived may add value to the development of the clinical work.

In this report the available scientific evidence regarding qualitative research on eating disorders is systematically reviewed. The evaluation was made as part of a government assignment. Most of the results presented in the report pertain to anorexia nervosa because the identified qualitative research most often focused on people with that diagnosis.

Project group

Expert

  • Sanna Aila Gustafsson, Örebro Region County/Örebro University

SBU

  • Karin Stenström, Project Manager
  • Sara Fundell, Project Administrator
  • Hanna Olofsson, Information Specialist
  • Agneta Pettersson, Assistant Project Manager
  • Karin Wilbe Ramsay, Assistant Project Manager

Scientific reviewers

  • David Clinton, Karolinska Institutet
  • Ingemar Engström, Örebro University

Search strategies

Cinahl via EBSCO 26 September 2018
Title: eating disorders – systematic reviews of qualitative studies
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts. AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the 
database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population: persons with eating disorders
1. MH "Eating Disorders") OR (MH "Anorexia") OR (MH "Anorexia Nervosa") OR (MH "Binge Eating Disorder") OR (MH "Bulimia Nervosa") OR (MH "Bulimia") OR (MH "Night Eating Syndrome") 10787
2. TI (anorexi* or bulimi* or ((bing* or compulsive*) W2 (eat* or vomit*)) or (eating W2 disorder*) or (food* W2 bing*) or ((self induc* or selfinduc*) W2 vomit*) or (((abnormal* or disturbance* or disturbed or dysfunction* or problem*) W2 eating) or anorectic or (bing* W2 (episode* or meal*)) or EDNOS OR "Purging disorder*" or "Night Eating Syndrome")) OR AB (anorexi* or bulimi* or ((bing* or compulsive*) W2 (eat* or vomit*)) or (eating W2 disorder*) or (food* W2 bing*) or ((self induc* or selfinduc*) W2 vomit*) or (((abnormal* or disturbance* or disturbed or dysfunction* or problem*) W2 eating) or anorectic or (bing* W2 (episode* or meal*)) or EDNOS OR "Purging disorder*" or "Night Eating Syndrome")) 10432
3. 1 OR 2 13175
Study types: meta-synthesis
4. (ZT "meta synthesis") 899
5. (MH "Qualitative Studies+") AND ((ZT "meta analysis") or (ZT "systematic review")) 2338
6. TX (review or systematic or meta or synthes*) N3 (qualitative or narrative or interpret* or integrative or evidence) 53071
7. TX (meta W3 (study or studies or synthes* or ethnograph* or "data analys*" or summary)) 11922
8. TX (realist or framework or thematic or "mixed method*") N3 (synthes* or review) 4599
9. TX ((meta* or review or synthes* or systematic) N3 ("grounded theory")) 218
10. TX ((information OR data) N2 synthes*) 7043
11. TX (data W2 extract*) 14288
12. TX (metasynthes* OR metaethnograph* OR "qualitative cross-case analysis" OR "aggregated analys*" OR "critical interpretive synthesis" or "meta-narrative") 1027
13. 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 OR 10 OR 11 OR 12 77,541
Study types: systematic reviews
14. MH "Systematic Review" OR ZT "systematic review" OR MH "Meta Analysis" OR ZT "meta analysis" 72375
15. (TI (systematic* n3 review*)) or (AB (systematic* n3 review*)) or (TI (systematic* n3 bibliographic*)) or (AB (systematic* n3 bibliographic*)) or (TI (systematic* n3 literature)) or (AB (systematic* n3 literature)) or (TI (comprehensive* n3 literature)) or (AB (comprehensive* n3 literature)) or (TI (comprehensive* n3 bibliographic*)) or (AB (comprehensive* n3 bibliographic*)) or (TI (integrative n3 review)) or (AB (integrative n3 review)) or (JN "Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews") or (TI (information n2 synthesis)) or (TI (data n2 synthesis)) or (AB (information n2 synthesis)) or (AB (data n2 synthesis)) or (TI (data n2 extract*)) or (AB (data n2 extract*)) or (TI (medline or pubmed or psyclit or cinahl or (psycinfo not "psycinfo database") or "web of science" or scopus or embase)) or (AB (medline or pubmed or psyclit or cinahl or (psycinfo not "psycinfo database") or "web of science" or scopus or embase)) or (TI (meta-analy* or metaanaly*)) or (AB (meta-analy* or metaanaly*)) 83286
16. 14 OR 15 104684
Combined sets & limits (year, language)
17. 3 AND 13 405
18. 17 AND Limiters - Published Date: 19900101-; Language: Danish, English, Norwegian, Swedish 403
19. 3 AND 16 552
20. 19 AND Limiters - Published Date: 19900101-; Language: Danish, English, Norwegian, Swedish 544

 

Medline via OvidSP 26 September 2018
Title: eating disorders – systematic reviews of qualitative studies
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts. .ab. =Abstract; .ab,ti. = Abstract or title; .af. = All fields; Exp = Term from the Medline controlled vocabulary, including terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy; .sh. = Term from the Medline controlled vocabulary; .ti. = Title; / = Term from the Medline controlled vocabulary, but does not include terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy * = Focus (if found in front of a MeSH-term); * or $ = Truncation (if found at the end of a free text term); .mp = text, heading word, subject area node, title
Search terms Items found
Population: persons with eating disorders
1. "feeding and eating disorders"/ or anorexia nervosa/ or binge-eating disorder/ or bulimia nervosa/ or night eating syndrome/ 26406
2. (anorexi* or bulimi* or ((bing* or compulsive*) adj2 (eat* or vomit*)) or (eating adj2 disorder*) or (food* adj2 bing*) or ((self induc* or selfinduc*) adj2 vomit*) or (((abnormal* or disturbance* or disturbed or dysfunction* or problem*) adj2 eating) or anorectic or (bing* adj2 (episode* or meal*))) or EDNOS OR "Purging disorder*" or "Night Eating Syndrome").ti,ab. 50586
3. 1 OR 2 56264
Study types: meta-synthesis
4. exp qualitative research/ AND "review"/ 2033
5. "mixed methods".ti,ab. AND "review"/ 837
6. ((review OR systematic OR meta OR synthes*) adj3 (qualitative OR narrative OR interpret* OR integrative OR evidence)).af. 62359
7. (meta adj3 (study OR studies OR synthes* OR ethnograph* OR "data analys*" OR summary)).af. 15485
8. ((realist OR framework OR thematic OR "mixed method*") adj3 (synthes* OR review)).af. 3226
9. ((meta* OR review OR synthes* OR systematic) adj3 "grounded theory").af. 75
10. ((information OR data) adj2 synthes*).af. 14808
11. (data adj2 extract*).af. 47252
12. (metasynthes* OR metaethnograph* OR "qualitative cross-case analysis" OR "aggregated analys*" OR "critical interpretive synthesis" or "meta-narrative").af. 526
13. 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 OR 10 OR 11 OR 12 127028
Combined sets and limits
14. 3 AND 13 545
15. 14 limited to (yr="1990 -Current" and (danish or english or norwegian or swedish) 531
16. 3 AND systematic[SB] limited to (yr="1990 -Current" and (danish or english or norwegian or swedish) 1363

 

Multi-database search (ASE, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, SocINDEX) via EBSCO 27 October 2018
Title: eating disorders – systematic reviews of qualitative studies (narrow, complimentary search)
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts. AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population: persons with eating disorders
1. TI("Eating Disorder" OR "Eating Disorders" OR Anorexi* OR "Binge Eating Disorder" OR Bulimi* OR "Night Eating Syndrome") 23012
Study types: meta-synthesis
2. TI (review or systematic or meta or synthes*) N1 (qualitative or narrative or interpret* or integrative or evidence) 7657
3. TI (meta W1 (study or studies or synthes* or ethnograph* or "data analys*" or summary)) 1316
4. TI (realist or framework or thematic or "mixed method*") N1 (synthes* or review) 1064
5. TI ((meta* or review or synthes* or systematic) N1 ("grounded theory")) 15
6. TI ((information OR data) N1 synthes*) 295
7. TI (data W1 extract*) 210
8. TI (metasynthes* OR metaethnograph* OR "qualitative cross-case analysis" OR "aggregated analys*" OR "critical interpretive synthesis" or "meta-narrative") 332
9. 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 10390
Combined sets
10. 1 AND 9 29
11. 1 AND 9 Limiters - Published Date: 19900101- 28

 

PsycInfo via EBSCO 26 September 2018
Title: eating disorders – systematic reviews of qualitative studies
Search terms Items found
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts. AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Population: persons with eating disorders
1. DE "Eating Disorders" OR DE "Anorexia Nervosa" OR DE "Binge Eating Disorder" OR DE "Bulimia" OR DE "Purging (Eating Disorders)" 28613
2. TI (anorexi* or bulimi* or ((bing* or compulsive*) W2 (eat* or vomit*)) or (eating W2 disorder*) or (food* W2 bing*) or ((self induc* or selfinduc*) W2 vomit*) or (((abnormal* or disturbance* or disturbed or dysfunction* or problem*) W2 eating) or anorectic or (bing* W2 (episode* or meal*)) or EDNOS OR "Purging disorder*" or "Night Eating Syndrome")) OR AB (anorexi* or bulimi* or ((bing* or compulsive*) W2 (eat* or vomit*)) or (eating W2 disorder*) or (food* W2 bing*) or ((self induc* or selfinduc*) W2 vomit*) or (((abnormal* or disturbance* or disturbed or dysfunction* or problem*) W2 eating) or anorectic or (bing* W2 (episode* or meal*)) or EDNOS OR "Purging disorder*" or "Night Eating Syndrome")) 37055
3. 1 OR 2 38928
Study types: meta-synthesis
4. (ZC "metasynthesis") 238
5. (DE "Qualitative Research" OR DE "Grounded Theory") AND (DE "Literature Review" OR DE "Meta Analysis") 76
6. TX ((review or systematic or meta or synthes*) N3 (qualitative or narrative or interpret* or integrative OR evidence)) 28748
7. TX (meta W3 (study or studies or synthes* or ethnograph* or "data analys*" or summary)) 5508
8. TX ((realist or framework or thematic or "mixed method*") N3 (synthes* or review)) 2852
9. TX ((meta* or review or synthes* or systematic) N3 ("grounded theory")) 140
10. TX ((information OR data) N2 synthes*) 2745
11. TX (data W2 extract*) 4022
12. TX (metasynthes* OR metaethnograph* OR "qualitative cross-case analysis" OR "aggregated analys*" OR "critical interpretive synthesis" or "meta-narrative") 640
13. 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 OR 10 OR 11 OR 12 40926
Study types: systematic reviews
14. DE "Meta Analysis" OR ZC "systematic review" OR ZC "meta analysis" 37240
15. TX (systematic* N3 review*) OR TX (metaanaly* OR meta-analy* OR "meta analy*") 56404
16. TX ((systematic* n3 bibliographic*) OR (systematic* n3 literature) OR (comprehensive* n3 literature) OR (comprehensive* n3 bibliographic*) OR (integrative n3 review) OR (information n2 synthesis) OR (data n2 synthesis) OR (data n2 extract*)) OR JN ("Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews") 17707
17. 14 OR 15 OR 16 64332
Combined sets & limits (language, year)
18. 3 AND 13 523
19. 18 AND Limiters - Publication Year: 1990-2018, Narrow by Language: - english 499
20. 3 AND 17 837
21. 20 AND Limiters - Publication Year: 1990-2018, Narrow by Language: - english 784

 

Scopus via Elsevier 26 September 2018
Title: eating disorders – systematic reviews of qualitative studies
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts. TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title or abstract or keywords; ALL = All fields; PRE/n = "precedes by". The first term in the search must precede the second by a specified number of terms (n).; W/n = "within". The terms in the search must be within a specified number of terms (n) in any order.; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase; LIMIT-TO ( SRCTYPE , "j" = Limit to source type journal; LIMIT-TO ( DOCTYPE, "ar" = Limit to document type article; LIMIT-TO ( DOCTYPE , "re" = Limit to document type review
Search terms Items found
Population: persons with eating disorders
1. EXACTKEYWORD ("Anorexia Nervosa" OR "Eating Disorder" OR "Eating Disorders" OR "Binge Eating Disorder" OR "Bulimia Nervosa" OR "Night Eating Syndrome") 43298
2. TITLE (anorexi* OR bulimi* OR "eating disorder" OR "eating disorders" OR "binge eating" OR EDNOS OR "purging disorder" or "night eating syndrome") 30764
3. 1 OR 2 50873
Study types: meta-synthesis
4. EXACTKEYWORD ("meta synthesis") 539
5. TITLE-ABS-KEY ((review OR systematic OR meta OR synthes*) PRE/3 (qualitative OR narrative OR interpret* OR integrative OR evidence )) 73902
6. TITLE-ABS-KEY (meta PRE/2 (study OR studies OR synthes* OR ethnograph* OR "data analys*" OR summary )) 9128
7. TITLE-ABS-KEY ((realist OR framework OR thematic OR "mixed method*" ) PRE/1 ( synthes* OR review)) 4216
8. TITLE-ABS-KEY (( meta* OR review OR synthes* OR systematic ) PRE/3 ( "grounded theory")) 98
9. TITLE-ABS-KEY (( information OR data ) PRE/2 synthes*) 21099
10. TITLE-ABS-KEY (metasynthes* OR metaethnograph* OR "qualitative cross-case analysis" OR "aggregated analys*" OR (data PRE/1 extract*)) 51706
11. 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 OR 10 144841
Study types: systematic review
12. EXACTKEYWORD ("Systematic review" ) OR EXACTKEYWORD ("Meta analysis" ) 265444
13. INDEXTERMS ('systematic review' OR 'meta analysis' OR "Meta-Analysis") 87492
14. TITLE-ABS-KEY (systematic W/2 review*) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (meta-analy* OR metaanaly*) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ("systematic overview*" OR "methodological overview*") 354336
15. 12 OR 13 OR 14 354776
Combined sets
16. 3 AND 11 451
17. 16 AND (( LIMIT-TO ( PUBYEAR , 1990-2018 ) ) AND ( LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , "English " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " swedish " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " danish " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " norwegian " ) ) 432
18. 3 AND 15 1258
19. 18 AND (( LIMIT-TO ( PUBYEAR , 1990-2018 ) ) AND ( LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , "English " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " swedish " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " danish " ) OR LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , " norwegian " ) ) 1195

More on the subject

Scientific article

Gustafsson SA, Stenström K, Olofsson H, Pettersson A, Wilbe Ramsay K. Experiences of eating disorders from the perspectives of patients, family members and health care professionals: a meta-review of qualitative evidence syntheses. Journal of Eating Disorders. 2021;9(1):156. Open access.

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