Development and validation of shortened EDE-Q
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The development and validation of a shortened version of the Eating-Disorder-Examination -Questionnaire
IRAS ID
126942
Contact name
Lucy Serpell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Research summary
The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) helps professionals as well as service users to gather useful information about their difficulties and is intended to detect change in their problematic eating behaviours and associated cognitions. However, the current questionnaire takes a long time to complete which reduces time for treatment and makes sessional collection impossible. This study sets out to develop a shortened version that is user-friendly, informative and sensitive to change as well as being psychometrically sound. \nThere will be three phases to the study.\n\nPhase1: Reduction of questionnaire through statistical analyses\nStatistical analyses, such as item response theory and factor analysis, will be applied to existing NHS EDE-Q data to reduce the existing questionnaire by identifying those items that are statistically less ’relevant’. These data will be obtained from two NHS Eating Disorder Services. Anonymous, non-clinical data will also be included.\n\nPhase2: Pretesting questionnaire design \nFeedback about the shortened questionnaire’s acceptability, ease of comprehension and usability will be obtained from university students and B-eat users (a charity for people who currently and/or historically suffered from eating disorders). Opinions on the shortened questionnaire will also be sought from an expert panel.\n\nPhase3: Empirical evaluation of shortened questionnaire \nAn online survey will invite university students, b-eat users and NHS service users to complete the original and the shortened questionnaire, as well as several other standardised measures, to assess the shortened questionnaire’s validity. Participants will be invited to be contacted at a later stage to complete the shortened version of the questionnaire once again to establish its test-retest reliability.\n\nNHS service users will be asked to complete the shortened questionnaire in addition to the routinely administered EDE-Q within two Eating Disorder Services. Pre-and post-treatment scores of the questionnaires will be collected and analysed to establish whether both measures show a similar degree of change.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/EE/0254
Date of REC Opinion
7 Aug 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion