Background:

Anorexia nervosa is a severe form of eating disorder, which implies an extremely unhealthy weight control behaviours that often begins with some form of dieting that gets out of control. It mainly affects adolescent girls and young women. It is estimated that 1% of women and 0.1% of men in Sweden suffer from anorexia before the age of 18 years. This causes the person suffering, for some people is suffering short term, but 10-20% of sufferers experience a lifetime of suffering. This body and weight fixation will in turn be exacerbated in the context of weight loss and can even lead to death.

Aim:

The aim of the study was to illustrate girls and women with anorexia nervosa, experiences of health care.

Method:

This literature study was based on qualitative research. Ten scientific articles were analyzed according to Forsberg and Wengström Qualitative content analysis based on the inductive approach to match the aim of the study.

Results:

The analysis process revealed four main categories: 1) Being seen as a person, 2) Being deprived control and responsibility, 3) Being influenced by fellow patients 4) Being affected by the care relationship.

Conclusion:

In order to provide good nursing care and relieve the suffer during the patient's illness it requires that the nurses increase their knowledge about the disease. It's important for the nurses to have a good understanding and awareness of patients' experience of their illness and their experience of healthcare.