Validation of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire in Danish Eating Disorder Patients and Athletes

Abstract

The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is a gold standard questionnaire to identify eating disorder symptoms but has not yet been validated in Danish. The scale consists of four theoretical constructs of disordered eating: Restraint eating, Eating concerns, Shape concerns and Weight concerns. However, the four-factor structure has been difficult to replicate across cultures. This study aimed to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the EDE-Q in Danish. The study consisted of four samples (aged 15–70): Patients with anorexia, bulimia and unspecified eating disorders (n = 101), patients with symptoms of binge-eating disorder (n = 300), recreational athletes (n = 404), and elite athletes (n = 526). Depending on the analysis performed, participants had to complete the EDE-Q, the SCOFF questionnaire for eating disorders or the Binge Eating Disorders Questionnaire. In accordance with international research, we found no evidence for a four-factor structure in the EDE-Q among patients or among athletes. But our results showed significant, positive associations between EDE-Q and SCOFF, BED-Q and MDI in all samples. We conclude that the internal structure of EDE-Q is low, while construct validity is high, making EDE-Q useful as an instrument to identify individuals with eating disorder symptoms, including recreational, and elite athletes.

Risk of Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, Exercise Addiction, and Food Intolerances in Female Endurance Athletes

“…A global EDE-Q score ≥ 2.5 was used to classify athletes with disordered eating behavior (Rø et al, 2015 ; Kuikman et al, 2021 ). The EDE-Q has been validated in an athletic population with Cronbach's Alpha coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.91 in the subscales (Lichtenstein et al, 2021a ).…”

Evaluating a motivational and psycho‐educational self‐help intervention for athletes with mild eating disorder symptoms: A mixed methods feasibility study

“…This is lower than what is typically seen in clinical samples (e.g. global scores of 3.92–3.98; Jennings & Phillips, 2017 ; Lichtenstein et al., 2021 ) but higher than what is typically observed in non‐clinical, community athlete samples (e.g. global scores of 0.89–2.50; Gorrell et al., 2021 ; Lichtenstein et al., 2021 ).…”

“…global scores of 3.92–3.98; Jennings & Phillips, 2017 ; Lichtenstein et al., 2021 ) but higher than what is typically observed in non‐clinical, community athlete samples (e.g. global scores of 0.89–2.50; Gorrell et al., 2021 ; Lichtenstein et al., 2021 ). This confirms that participants in our study reported experiencing mild eating disorder symptoms.…”

Text based internet intervention of Binge Eating Disorder (BED): Words per message is associated with treatment adherence

“…Binge-Eating Disorder Questionnaire ( BED-Q ) ( Jensen et al, 2020 ; Lichtenstein et al, 2021 ) is a 9-item questionnaire. Items 1–7 make up the sum score (0–35).…”