The present study uses personal construct theory and the repertory grid technique to examine staff views of individual clients with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, in particular those clients who purge and restrict. Fourteen members of nursing staff, both qualified and non-qualified, participated in the research. The results suggest that the 14 members of staff interviewed did construe clients who purge and clients who restrict in markedly different ways. The theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.
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