Eating disorders on the curriculum for student nurses
Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:51:00 GMT
Mental health students come face-to-face with devastating effects of eating disorders
STUDENT nurses at the University of Huddersfield are gaining valuable insights into the devastating effects of eating disorders not only on the patients themselves but their families and carers too.
As a result, the nurse trainees will be better equipped to treat people – typically, although not exclusively adolescent girls – who suffer from disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and a range of other eating disorders. And they are learning that treatment must be focussed tightly on individuals and their families.
“It is not just about that individual patient. It is about that person’s siblings and wider family. In fact one of treatments recommended is family therapy,” says Fiona Trotter, who is the University’s senior lecturer and field leader for mental health.
She is determined that the University of Huddersfield’s trainee mental health nurses should learn all about the impact of eating disorders. And she has been provided invaluable help by a campaigning Huddersfield woman who has formed a local carers’ support group named FEDS – Families of Eating Disorder Sufferers.
See Cherie talk more about her experience with the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, in this video.
The founder of the group, named Cherie Hinchliffe, said: “As a parent/carer you are expected to provide 24-hour care for a loved one who is suffering from such a life threatening mental illness as an eating disorder with no formal training or advice. You stumble through each day wondering if you made the right decision, if your actions have made your child worse or better.”
Fiona Trotter decided to use Cherie’s experiences as a powerful teaching aid for student mental health nurses.
“She provided a long and comprehensive history of her daughter’s journey into eating disorders, which I used with the students. This was then supplemented by Cherie speaking in person to the students about her experiences of being a parent of a child with an eating disorder. The students were absolutely astounded by the level of care she had to give for her daughter.”
The perfect 'body' image
The link between the University and Cherie Hinchliffe of FEDS is now set to continue and may broaden in scope.
“Adolescents with eating disorders are sometimes admitted to general wards, which shows that this is a subject area which should be taught across the field of nursing and not just specifically mental health,” said Fiona Trotter.
“It requires a multi-disciplinary approach – not just nursing but perhaps social work and other disciplines too”.
Recent figures have shown a 16 per cent rise in the number of hospital admissions for eating disorders. The rise could be due in part to raised awareness of the issue, but the social and cultural pressures to achieve a ‘perfect’ body image continue to have a powerful effect, says Fiona.
