Nurses’ professional roles: Supervision and support during meals in caring for adult inpatients with anorexia nervosa – a qualitative study

This study aims to describe how nurses perceive their professional roles in providing meal support for adult inpatients with anorexia nervosa. A qualitative design and reflexive thematic analysis were used, as well as the SRQR (i.e. Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research) reporting guidelines for accuracy and completeness. Personal interviews were conducted with 11 nursing staff in a general psychiatric inpatient ward. The results revealed an overarching theme: performing meal support – fluent shifting between roles, with two themes: acting as a supervisor, monitoring food intake, and getting into the supportive and helping role. Both themes further consisted of three subthemes each. The results show nurses’ ability to shift between roles and adapt to patients’ needs at the same time as maintaining treatment structure during meal support. Moving between differences in approach is important in fostering a therapeutic relationship and facilitating patient recovery. Balancing this is especially vital in nursing and involves meeting challenging responsibilities at the same time as addressing individual patient requirements.