Themes of recovery from a child and adolescent eating disorder unit: Staff experiences

The covid-19 pandemic is a part of modern medical history and its effect on general medical hospitals has been heavily documented. Our study aims to explore the views of our staff in a specialised inpatient eating disorder unit for children and adolescents, to give our staff a voice and encourage self-reflection on how far they have come since the pandemic began.

This study used mixed data collection methods and an exploratory descriptive qualitative (EDQ) method of research. We used a simple coding process where core concepts and theories emerged from data analysis and constant comparison. We aimed to use a pragmatic approach to the grounded theory method of data analysis to respect the limitations of our study and our chosen topic, which has no definitive previous research.

In our session we will explore:

- Staff experiences in relation to how work on an eating disorder unit has changed due to covid-19

- How staff have adapted to change

- How staff view the journey to recovery for the unit

Recommendations for staff recovery and how we can build back better from the pandemic

Dr Lily Lloyd, Dr Sarah Carney, Donovan Martin

Dr Lily Lloyd is a Specialty Doctor at Huntercombe Hospital Maidenhead.

Dr Sarah Carney is a Locum Associate Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Kennet Specialist Eating Disorder Unit).

Donovan Martin is an Assistant Psychologist at Huntercombe Hospital Maidenhead.