Uncovering ED: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Blogs Managed by Individuals with Eating Disorders

Authors

Jacqueline Gies, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Sara Martino, The Richard Stockton College of New JerseyFollow

Abstract

Previous studies have investigated the potential harmful effects of pro-eating disorder (ED) websites. Websites, such as personal blogs, may contain eating disorder content that may hold important information as well and must be considered. Fifteen blogs hosted by the site “Tumblr” were qualitatively analyzed. Each blog owner was anonymous and all were female. Ten main themes were extracted using grounded theory: interaction, negative self-worth, mind and body disturbances, pictures, eating disorders, suicide, diet, exercise, stats, and recovery. Additional themes also appeared in the study. Results indicate that although each individual blog is unique to its owner, common concepts existed among the majority. The implications for the information in the ED blogs and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

Eating Disorders, Blogs, Online Support, Treatment

Publication Date

7-21-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1104

Recommended APA Citation

Gies, J., & Martino, S. (2014). Uncovering ED: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Blogs Managed by Individuals with Eating Disorders. The Qualitative Report, 19(29), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1104