Eating Disorder Examination (EDE)/(EDE-Q)

Abstract

The Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) is a semi-structured, investigator-based interview that assesses the cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with eating disorders (Fairburn and Cooper 1993; Fairburn et al. 2008). Cognitive symptoms (e.g., dissatisfaction with shape, dietary restraint) are assessed for the past 28 days and are rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 0 to 6, with higher scores representing more severe pathology. These items can be used to create four lower-order subscales (restraint, eating concern, shape concern, weight concern) as well as a higher-order global score. Behavioral symptoms (e.g., objective bulimic episodes (OBEs), subjective bulimic episodes (SBEs), compensatory behaviors) are each assessed over the past 3 months and are rated using frequency scores (i.e., the number of times a behavior occurred). The EDE was originally developed as a dimensional measure of eating disorder pathology; however, the EDE can also be used to derive DSM-IV (v.16 and earlier) and DSM-5 (v.17) diagnoses. The EDE does not assess lifetime symptoms and does not assess symptoms of feeding disorders. The interview is available for free online (http:// credo-oxford.com/7.2.html), takes approximately 60 min to administer, and requires training in eating disorder pathology, assessment techniques, and the specific rules that govern EDE ratings. The Eating Disorder ExaminationQuestionnaire (EDE-Q) is a self-report questionnaire version of the EDE (Fairburn and Beglin 1994, 2008). The EDE-Q uses the same rating scales as well as nearly identical items and phrasing as the interview. Thus, the questionnaire can be used to derive the same subscales as the interview. One difference between the EDE and EDE-Q is that the EDE-Q only assesses eating disorder pathology during the past month, whereas the EDE includes several items that assess symptoms in months 2 and 3. Despite this difference, algorithms can be used to derive proxy DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnoses from the EDE-Q. The EDE-Q is available for free online (http:// credo-oxford.com/7.2.html) and takes approximately 15 min to administer.