Evaluation of body experience questionnaires in eating disorders in female patients (AN/BN) and nonclinical participants.

OBJECTIVE

Body image disturbance is an important factor in the development and the treatment of eating disorders. Therefore, evaluations of different instruments for measuring body image disturbances are necessary.

METHOD: Four widely used questionnaires are evaluated: The Body Attitude Test, The Eating Disorder Inventory, The Body Shape Questionnaire, and the Body Attitude Questionnaire. Psychometric properties of these questionnaires are investigated in 228 patients with eating disorder and 389 female controls. Normative values for a Flemish population are provided.

RESULTS

All questionnaires have good psychometric properties. To separate patients from controls all four questionnairescan be used. To differentiate between patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, the Body Attitude Test and the Body Dissatisfaction subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory show good criterion-related validity.

CONCLUSION

All these measures are useful as preliminary screening devices to identify populations with a high proportion or risk for developing eating disorders. More research is needed because there is still a great lack of clarity about what constitutes the normal range of attitudes towards the body.