Purpose

The purpose of the EDEQ-36 questionnaire is to assess the behavioral symptoms of eating disorders, such as binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors, as well as the disordered attitudes of the individual concerning food, body shape, and body weight.

Questionnaire Analysis

The EDEQ-36 was developed by Fairburn and Beglin (1993) and consists of 36 questions. It measures pathological attitudes and behaviors related to eating over the past four weeks (a 28-day period). The four subscales are: (a) Restraint, (b) Concern with Body Shape, (c) Concern with Weight, and (d) Concern with Food. The EDEQ-36 was translated using a critical and statistical method by 22 bilingual Greek women, employing the back-translation procedure to ensure accuracy.

Questionnaire Calibration

Scoring is conducted as follows: participants respond to 36 questions. In the first 15, they indicate how frequently a specific behavior occurred on a 7-point scale where 0 = no days and 6 = every day. In the following questions, participants answer whether the behavior occurred using “Yes” or “No.” In the remaining questions, they rate their level of agreement with each statement on a 7-point scale where 0 = not at all and 6 = extremely.

Statistical Analysis

Scores range from 0 to 6. The score for each subscale is calculated by averaging the responses corresponding to that subscale. The total score is the sum of the scores from all 36 items. The lowest possible score is 0, and the highest can be 144 or more. A high score indicates greater frequency of binge-eating episodes, issues with control, use of laxatives, increased vomiting, and intense physical exercise.

Validity and Reliability

The EDEQ-36 has demonstrated good concurrent validity and satisfactory criterion-related qualitative validity, as well as high internal consistency reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.90.

References

Binford, R. B., Le Grange, D., & Jellar, C. C. (2005). Eating Disorders Examination versus Eating Disorders Examination‐Questionnaire in adolescents with full and partial‐syndrome bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 37(1), 44–49.
Fairburn, C. G., & Beglin, S. J. (1994). Assessment of eating disorders: Interview or self‐report questionnaire? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 16(4), 363–370.
Luce, K. H., & Crowther, J. H. (1999). The reliability of the eating disorder examination—Self‐report questionnaire version (EDE‐Q). International Journal of Eating Disorders, 25(3), 349–351.
Machado, P. P., Grilo, C. M., Rodrigues, T. F., Vaz, A. R., & Crosby, R. D. (2020). Eating disorder examination–questionnaire short forms: a comparison. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(6), 937–944.
Mond, J. M., Hay, P. J., Rodgers, B., Owen, C., & Beumont, P. J. V. (2004). Validity of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) in screening for eating disorders in community samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42(5), 551–567.
Nagata, J. M., Murray, S. B., Compte, E. J., Pak, E. H., Schauer, R., Flentje, A., … & Obedin-Maliver, J. (2020). Community norms for the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) among transgender men and women. Eating Behaviors, 37, 101381.