Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Human Environmental Science (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

General Human Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Williams, Amanda

Committee Member

Becnel, Jennifer

Second Committee Member

Bailey, Mechelle T.

Keywords

adolescent; adult; anorexia; eating; health belief model; psychosocial factors; piaget; treatment relapse

Abstract

This study was done to examine what psychosocial factors influence treatment seeking behavior among female survivors of eating disorders. This study uses a mixed methods survey consisting of open-ended item questions regarding treatment experience and social environment, and close-ended items to measure constructs from the Health Belief Model. Fourteen participants were recruited for this study to retrospectively detail their experiences of treatment during their eating disorder. All fourteen participants identified as Caucasian, thirteen identified as female, one identified with other gender, each with a history of medically diagnosed anorexia nervosa. The mean of age of current participants was 29.46, and the mean age of diagnosis was 14.21. Of the fourteen participants, thirteen stated that they grew up in a dual parent household, and one identified being in a single parent household. Aside from descriptive statistics of the sample, equal number of external (6) and internal (8) themes arose from the data. These findings help to fill the gap in the literature concerning perspectives of treatment seeking behavior directly from the survivors themselves.

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