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The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Social Media in the Journey of Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Exploration of Participants in the "TastelifeUK" Eating Disorder Recovery Programme

Mitra, Barbara ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4512-466X, Archer, D., Hurst, J. and Lycett, D. (2023) The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Social Media in the Journey of Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Exploration of Participants in the "TastelifeUK" Eating Disorder Recovery Programme. Journal of Religion & Health. ISSN Print: 0022-4197 Online: 1573-6571

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Abstract

This study explores the religious and spiritual aspects of eating disorder recovery and the role of social media in the context of a third sector community-based recovery group in the UK. Four online focus groups explored participant perspectives (17 participants in total) using thematic analysis. The qualitative findings highlight that relational support from God is important in eating disorder recovery and coping, although this can be challenged by spiritual struggles and tensions. Relational support from people is also relevant where it offers a place to share different experiences together giving a sense of community belonging. Social media was also found to be important in relation to eating disorders, either providing a community of support or exacerbating existing issues. This study suggests that the role of religion and social media should be acknowledged where it is important for that individual in relation to eating disorder recovery.

Item Type: Article
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Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: Eating disorders, Spiritual struggles, Faith, Religion, Qualitative study, Social Media, Media, Body image, Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa
Divisions: College of Arts, Humanities and Education > School of Humanities
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Copyright Info: © The Author(s) 2023, Open Access Article
Depositing User: Barbara Mitra
Date Deposited: 11 Jul 2023 10:47
Last Modified: 11 Jul 2023 10:47
URI: https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/13012

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