Skolkuratorers arbete med ätstörningar : En kvalitativ studie om skolkuratorers förebyggande arbete med ätstörningar hos elever

Sammanfattning

School counselors play an important role in both identifying and preventing eating disorders among students. The purpose of this study is to analyse how school counselors experience their preventive work with mental illness, with focus on eating disorders. In order to get a deeper understanding concerning school counselors work a qualitative method has been used. Eight school counselors participated in our study. The data was collected with qualitative interviews. The collected material was analyzed through a reflective thematic analysis. The analysis compares the results with the theoretical concept discretion along with previous research. The results of the study show that school counselors work with both health promotion efforts to prevent eating disorders, but also with identifying early signs of eating disorders. The results also show that school counselors' discretion can constitute both opportunities, obstacles and difficulties. It can also be affected by organizational, individual and relational factors.