Using medical records in qualitative research. Advantages and limitations

Cooperation between professionals, adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa and their parents is essential for the treatment outcome. This is why it has been studied using qualitative research, however, such research has mainly concentrated on self-report methods. In this paper, the methodological approach of using medical reports of stationaryhospitalisation in a child psychiatry ward is described. BothConsensual Qualitative Research (CQR) and Comparative Case Study (CCS) methodologies were used to obtain a multidimensional and in-depth picture of cooperation in such difficult circumstances. In this study, the procedure is meticulously and incrementally illustrated, presenting the context of the study, characteristics of the collected data, analysis process, and research team, which is particularly relevant in qualitative methods.Advantages and limitations of such an approach ale also discussed, based on our experience. Finally, the work's clinical value is commented, proving that using both CQR and CCS provides some important clinical implications for specialists.