General practitioners' experiences of patients with eating disorders

General practitioners play a key role in assessing, diagnosing and treating eating disorders. This role is challenged by clinical features of the patient group, the doctors' everyday work and issues related to collaboration with the specialist health service. The objective of this study was to obtain more knowledge about the ways in which GPs meet such challenges.

Five GPs from Nordland county participated in the study, all of whom had at least three years' experience of general practice and relevant clinical experience with this patient group. The participants were interviewed about their experience of patients with eating disorders, especially with regard to identification and follow-up. The interviews entailed no risk of the doctors breaching their duty of confidentiality. The interviews were recorded on an audio device, transcribed and analysed with the aid of systematic text condensation.

The GPs had few patients with eating disorders. None reported any specific problems in identifying patients, but called for both competence development and screening tools. It was challenging to talk to patients who attended for consultations due to reports of concern by others, as well as to make time for longer consultations in general. The experience from collaboration with the specialist health service varied somewhat.

The results must be seen in light of the limitations stemming from sample size and contextual dependency, but the experiences reflect challenges that can be linked to both clinical issues and framework conditions in general practice. The participants called for initiatives to enhance clinical competence among GPs in the field of eating disorders.