“It’s literally like been life-changing”: An Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis of a novel motivational chairwork intervention
for the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa
Abstract
Objective: Many people with Anorexia Nervosa experience ambivalence and
impoverished motivation to change, yet current motivation enhancing
interventions require improvements. Chairwork is a collection of
therapeutic methods that incorporate movement and dialogue between
chairs to elicit change. The “future selves” chairwork intervention
(FSCI) is a novel chairwork task that aims to increase motivation by
enacting and interacting with future ‘non-recovered’ and ‘recovered’
version of the self in different chairs. Method: Nine people living with
Anorexia Nervosa completed the FSCI and were interviewed about their
experience of the task. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was
conducted, using change process research methods to explore
acceptability, feasibility, and associated change processes. Results:
The following Group Experiential Themes (GETs) were identified:
‘Delivery and Task factors’, ‘Motivation towards a demanding recovery
journey’, ‘Intense and strange emotions led to realisations’ and ‘Living
as the future self”. Conclusions: The findings suggest that FSCI is
acceptable and feasible, although more research would