Maternalism: a healthy alliance for recovery and transition in eating disorder services

Abstract

Accessible summary: The therapeutic relationship is pivotal to mental health nursing, but very little is known about how it is experienced in adult eating disorder services. This paper reports on a research project that sought to discover how the therapeutic relationship is experienced between care workers and women with anorexia nervosa in an adult eating disorder service. Both care workers and women spoke of a relationship that had similarities to the mother-daughter relationship, that it felt therapeutic and that it was in keeping with a professional and compassionate nursing approach. These findings provide new insight. Maternalism is seen as a positive, nurturing and transient relationship that ensures the safety of the person and promotes recovery and transition to eventual independence.