Fin­ding a break from the ea­ting dis­or­der – ex­pe­ri­en­ces with na­tu­re and fri­luft­sliv in ever­y­day life re­co­very

The aim of this qua­li­ta­ti­ve stu­dy was to ex­plo­re and dis­cuss per­sons with ea­ting dis­or­ders’ ex­pe­ri­en­ces with na­tu­re and fri­luft­sliv as part of ever­y­day life re­co­very. The re­se­arch pro­ject was car­ri­ed out in the con­text of col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve re­se­arch me­thods and in­vol­ved a com­pe­tence group th­roug­hout the re­se­arch pro­cess. Eight par­ti­ci­pan­ts (aged 19–41 ye­ars old) with an in­te­rest in na­tu­re and fri­luft­sliv, and with ex­pe­ri­en­ces with bu­li­mia ner­vo­sa and/or bin­ge ea­ting dis­or­ders, were in­ter­view­ed twice. In­ter­views took place in the par­ti­ci­pan­ts’ ne­ar­by na­tu­re. The fin­dings from the stu­dy reve­al how em­bo­di­ed ex­pe­ri­en­ces with na­tu­re en­ab­led a (re)connection with one’s body. Mo­reo­ver, the fin­dings de­mons­tra­te ex­pe­ri­en­ces with na­tu­re and fri­luft­sliv as en­com­pas­sing sup­port­i­ve ever­y­day oc­cu­pa­ti­ons that cent­re aspects of life other than the ea­ting dis­or­der. The par­ti­ci­pan­ts’ ex­pe­ri­en­ces elu­ci­da­te im­portant qua­li­ties in hu­man-na­tu­re in­ter­ac­tions that can im­pact ma­nage­ment of ne­ar­by na­tu­re as well as fa­ci­li­ta­ting re­co­very pro­ces­ses re­la­ted to ea­ting dis­or­ders out­doors.