It Would Not Have Happened to me at Home: Qualitative Exploration of Sojourns Abroad and Eating Disorders in Young Czech Women Barbara Pavlova 1 * , y , Rudolf Uher 1,2z and Hana Papezova 1x 1 1st Medical School, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic 2 Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK Background: Eating disorders can be triggered by life events involving migration and acculturation. Aim: To explore associations between sojourns abroad and the onset and course of eating disorders. Method: Six semi-structured interviews with women with an eating disorder and history of sojourn abroad and seven first- person Internet testimonies were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: We identified three trajectories relating eating disorders to sojourns abroad: (I) weight-gain when abroad associated with later development of an eating disorder; (II) development or wor- sening of an eating disorder when abroad; (III) stay abroad as an attempt to escape the illness. Three topics informed on the impact of sojourns abroad on mental health: (A) different food and eating habits; (B) negative emotions; (C) illness as attempt to achieve something valuable. Conclusion: The importance of the identified trajectories and topics relating eating disorders to sojourns abroad needs to be estimated in an epidemiological study. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Keywords: Czech Republic; course; eating disorders; onset; qualitative INTRODUCTION Several lines of evidence suggest that the onset of eating disorders may be triggered by life events related to leaving the parental home, living abroad and adjusting to a different cultural environment. First, the peak onset age of bulimia nervosa and the second peak in incidence of anorexia nervosa are between 18 and 20 years and coincide with the leaving-home transition (Halmi, Casper, Eckert, Goldberg, & Davis, 1979; Hoek & Van Hoeken, 2003). Second, body dissatisfaction and prevalence of disordered eating increase in female students during the first year of university studies (Compas, Wagner, Slavin, & Vannatta, 1986). Third, the prevalence of eating disorders in migrants is elevated and positively related to the degree of acculturation (Davis & Katzman, 1999; Gowen, European Eating Disorders Review Eur. Eat. Disorders Rev. 16, 207–214 (2008) * Correspondence to: Barbara Pavlova, M.A., Eating Disorder Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, PO Box 59, De Cre- spigny Park, London SE5 8UU, UK. E-mail: b.pavlova@iop.kcl.ac.uk y Research Associate. z Clinical Lecturer in affective disorders and Research Associ- ate at 1st Medical School. x Reader. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Published online 20 August 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/erv.819