ArticleJournal of eating disorders2025
A qualitative investigation of the factors influencing eating disorder symptomology during the postpartum period.
Article in Journal of eating disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the clinical practice guidelines for the assessment, management and treatment of eating disorders during the perinatal period.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Patterns and trends of eating disorders among women of childbearing age: a comprehensive analysis from 1990 to 2021 with future predictions.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2026Article
- Eating Disorders and Subthreshold Symptoms in Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: an Overview of Recent Research and Future Directions for Researchers and Clinicians.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe perinatal period can be a challenging time for women with current or historical eating disorder (ED) experience. Maternal EDs are associated with risks to both the mother and the child. During pregnancy, women are more likely to disengage with ED behaviours for the good of their growing baby. However, the postpartum period is a particularly risky period for the re-emergence or worsening of ED behaviours, irrespective of women's pre-pregnancy ED status. Little is known about the factors which influence ED symptomology during the postpartum period. The aim of this study was to develop an understanding of the factors operating in the postpartum experience that influence ED symptomology.
methodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 women who had experience of an ED before becoming pregnant. Interview took place during or after the postpartum period, with women reflecting specifically on the postpartum period. Interviews were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis.
resultsFour themes were developed within the interview data; (1) Embracing the self, (2) Motherhood: an ED enabler or protector?, (3) ED as a 'plaster' for emotional distress, and (4) The influential voices of others. Theme 1 captures participants' reports of the primary ED recovery facilitator, with a focus on self-awareness, self-understanding, self-compassion, and self-identity. Themes 2-4 describe a 'triangle of powers' which interacted with one another to influence participants' ED symptomology both positively and negatively during the postpartum period.
conclusionA new model is proposed which predicts that ED symptomology during the postpartum period is influenced by a complex interaction between various internal and external factors. Health care professionals encountering women with EDs during the perinatal period should be aware of these factors, to provide attuned and individualised care and improve outcomes for mothers and babies. Increased awareness how EDs may present during the postpartum period is needed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.