It would not have happened to me at home: Qualitative exploration of sojourns abroad and eating disorders in young Czech women

Background: Eating disorders can be triggered by life events involving migration and acculturation. Aim: To explore associations between sojourns abroad and the onset and course of eating disorders. Method: Six semi-structured interviews with women with an eating disorder and history of sojourn abroad and seven first-person Internet testimonies were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: We identified three trajectories relating eating disorders to sojourns abroad: (I) weight-gain when abroad associated with later development of an eating disorder; (II) development or worsening of an eating disorder when abroad; (III) stay abroad as an attempt to escape the illness. Three topics informed on the impact of sojourns abroad on mental health: (A) different food and eating habits; (B) negative emotions; (C) illness as attempt to achieve something valuable. Conclusion: The importance of the identified trajectories and topics relating eating disorders to sojourns abroad needs to be estimated in an epidemiological study.