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Table 5 Illustrative Participant Quotations for Theme 4: Life Outside of Treatment

From: Blind versus open weighing from an eating disorder patient perspective

Subtheme

 

Illustrative participant quotations

4.1 Weighing, weight exposure, and discharge support

BW

“While being here it’s better not to know but then I’m going to go home and I’m going to find out the number and then, like, what are we going to do?” (Lack of support post-discharge, BW103)

“[BW] didn’t help you deal... with weight... They’d just let you out and you’d go home and you’d be a higher weight and you’d have to deal with it.” (Lack of support post-discharge, OW205)

“I feel like sometimes you’re faced with it … unexpectedly like at a doctor’s appointment … Then it’s like such a big difference from what you last saw. And then it’s just like... It ruins everything.” (Weighing is inevitable, BW108)

OW

“I prefer to know, so that I can get help dealing with it. Because when I’m at home, if I get weighed, I have to so often get weighed, I need to know how to deal with it.” (Support dealing with weight exposure, OW205)

4.2 Weight change awareness

BW

“Not knowing my weight doesn’t mean that like, I’m not, like conscious, that I’m not aware that it’s changing. (Weight change awareness without numbers, BW101)

“Even if you can’t see [your weight] like you know it’s still happening, and you can be told that you weight is trending upwards or it’s going in the right direction or whatever but, it doesn’t reinforce [the food-weigh associations] as much in your head.” (Weight change awareness without numbers, BW113)

“I’m aware I’m gaining weight without seeing the number …. I guess when you leave, if you did weigh yourself, it could be a bit of a shock. But to be honest, they give us enough feedback I kinda [sic] know where I would sit.” (Weight change awareness without numbers, BW105)

  1. Note. BW: Quotes relating to blind weighing; OW: Quotes relating to open weighing; BW# blind weighed inpatient; OW#, open weighed inpatient; R#, recovered participant