A Post-Structural Feminist Analysis of Eating Disorders Intervention Research

Abstract

Through an epistemological stance of post-structural feminism, this conceptual paper explores the use of language within eating disorders (ED) intervention articles, and the problematic narratives and power dynamics that are reinforced through this discourse. The paper begins with a vignette coupled with reflexive analysis of the authors’ experiences within a hospital-based ED unit. The authors then engage in a post-structural feminist analysis to discuss how language within ED intervention research relay problematic narratives of: (1) the individual with an ED as passively, not actively, engaged in care; (2) that their experiences can be captured and categorized; and (3) that measurement based scientific knowledge is more valuable than the lived experiences of clients. Overall, the authors argue that these narratives not only shape how social work researchers think of EDs, but also what we think of those with EDs. These themes also signal a larger power dynamic that continuously favours the epistemic value of researchers’ knowledge over that of the client’s, which runs contrary to the guiding principles of client-centered care in social work. To address these critiques, the authors recommend that social work researchers adopt an eco-social phenomenological approach informed by post-structural feminism when conducting ED intervention research.

Fat Liberation: How Social Workers Can Incorporate Fat Activism to Promote Care and Justice

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What's in a Name? The Social Meanings of Eating Disorder Diagnoses: An Autoethnography

“…The issues of representation and power in feminist eating disorder research are present, to a greater extent, in traditional positivist research. The majority of eating disorder research, including the literature used in intervention training, is positivist; centred on the aetiology, prevalence, symptomatology, and vulnerability factors of eating disorders (Hussain et al, 2021). This reflects the dominance of positivism in research; where objectivity, valuefreedom, and universalism are considered the gold standard for obtaining valid knowledge (Agger, 1991;Murphy, 1988;Wall, 2006).…”