Krabbe, Silje Helen, Groven, Karen Synne, Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche et al. · International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023 · DOI
This study followed 13 young women who recovered from severe ME/CFS that started during childhood or adolescence. Through in-depth interviews, researchers explored what helped them get better. The women described recovery as a slow, bumpy process that involved learning how their bodies worked and gradually gaining confidence, rather than a straight path to wellness.
Understanding the lived experience of recovery in severe early-onset ME/CFS is crucial because recovery narratives remain rare in the literature and can offer patients hope and practical insights. This study prioritizes patient voices and perspectives, which is essential for developing patient-centered care approaches and recognizing the complexity of recovery beyond biomedical measures alone.
This study does not establish what specifically causes recovery or identify universally applicable recovery mechanisms—individual narratives describe personal experiences that may not generalize to other patients. It cannot determine whether observed recovery was due to medical interventions, natural disease course, psychological factors, or environmental changes, as this is qualitative narrative analysis without comparative groups or objective biomarkers.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Krabbe, Silje Helen, Groven, Karen Synne, Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche, Sveen, Unni, & Mengshoel, Anne Marit (2023). The fragile process of Homecoming - Young women in recovery from severe ME/CFS.. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2146244
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-krabbe-2023-fragile-process,
author = {Krabbe, Silje Helen and Groven, Karen Synne and Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche and Sveen, Unni and Mengshoel, Anne Marit},
title = {The fragile process of Homecoming - Young women in recovery from severe ME/CFS.},
journal = {International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1080/17482631.2022.2146244},
note = {PubMed: 36367977},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/krabbe-2023-fragile-process},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/krabbe-2023-fragile-process
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