The biomedical discourse focused on diagnosis has often been used as an exclusive alternative to inform treatment modalities for families of patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This study aims to increase the understanding of how these families build justifications for their participation in a family support group in the eating disorder treatment context. Social constructionist discourse was used to analyze a session of the group in which the topic of our interest was addressed. The analysis highlighted co-produced meanings about the absence of some families in the group, the decrease of frequency of parent participation, the function of the group, the ideal frequency of family members, and the possibility of family members and coordinators co-construct the group conversational setting.
Social Constructionism; family; eating disorders; support group; multifamiliar group