Reliability and cross-validation of the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ): Hebrew version.

BACKGROUND

Several developments in diagnosing night eating syndrome (NES) occurred during the last decade. New proposed diagnostic criteria are now available, and a short Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) was published. The study aims were to validate the NEQ for assessing NES, to identify the optimal NEQ cut-point for NES diagnosis, and to validate and test the internal reliability of the translated Hebrew version of the NEQ.

METHOD: 141 participants completed the questionnaire and a diagnostic interview, divided into four groups: NES (n=59), Partial diagnosis PD-NES (n=42), other eating disorders (n=8) and controls (32). Validity was measured by calculating reliability, factor structure, and comparing the interview diagnosis to the NEQ score using different cut scores.

RESULTS

Cronbach's alpha was 0.78, and principal components analysis yielded a five factor structure. A cut score of 21 provided the best balance of false and true positive diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded that the NEQ may be an acceptable screening instrument for assessing NES symptomatology.