Study suggests assessment tool has nonclinical applications.

2004 JUN 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New Zealand researchers tested the Eating Disorders Inventory in a community setting and support its use for nonclinical applications, such as a screening tool.

"The Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) is a widely used questionnaire for clinical assessment and for research with people who have eating disorders. It has eight subscales, providing information on eight separate dimensions of cognitive and behavioral aspects of eating disorders," explained L. Wicks and colleagues, University of Otago, Wellington.

"While the existence of eight factors underlying these subscales is generally accepted for clinical samples, this has not always been the case when the EDI has been administered to nonclinical groups, a situation that has clear implications for its use as a screening device," the researchers said.

Wicks and coworkers had a sample of 260 New Zealand female university students take the EDI.

"An initial confirmatory factor analysis with five previously identified subscales supported a five-factor structure, while successive analyses with each of the three remaining subscales included in turn, confirmed the eight factor structure. A single factor confirmatory analysis also provided strong support for the ...