Abstract
PurposeOrthorexia Nervosa (ON) is described as an extreme level of preoccupation around healthy eating, accompanied by restrictive eating behaviors. During the years, different assessment instruments have been developed. The aim of the study is to adapt into Italian the Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale (I-DOS) and to test its psychometric properties.MethodA total sample of 422 volunteer university students (mean age = 20.70 ± 3.44, women 71.8%) completed a group of self-report questionnaires in large group sessions during their lecture time. The scales assessed ON (the I-DOS and the Orhto-15), disordered eating (Disordered Eating Questionnaire, DEQ), depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II, BDI-II), obsessive and compulsive symptoms (Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised, OCI-R), and self-reported height and weight.ResultsThe fit of the unidimensional structure and reliability of the I-DOS was tested trough Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) as well as its criterion validity computing correlation coefficients among Ortho-15, DEQ, BDI-II, OCI-R, BMI. Analyses confirmed the unidimensional structure of the I-DOS with acceptable or great fit indices (CFI = 0.984; TLI = 0.978; SRMR = 0.043; RMSEA = 0.076) and the strong internal consistency (α = 0.888). The correlations path supported the criterion validity of the scale. The estimated total prevalence of both ON and ON risk was 8.1%.ConclusionsThis 10-item scale appears to be a valid and reliable measure to assess orthorexic behaviors and attitudes.Level of evidenceLevel V, descriptive cross-sectional study.
Highlights
In the 90’s Bratman [1] described for the first time Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) as an extreme level of preoccupation around healthy eating, accompanied by restrictive eating behaviors
The research on ON is currently flourishing, several limitations have been highlighted by a narrative review of the literature by Cena and colleagues [5], which accurately explores the main features and the problems sill related to this construct such as the terms used to describe and define ON and healthy eating, and the definition of clear and shared diagnostic criteria
The aim of the present study is to adapt the Italian version of the Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale (I-DOS) and to test its psychometric properties
Summary
In the 90’s Bratman [1] described for the first time Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) as an extreme level of preoccupation around healthy eating, accompanied by restrictive eating behaviors. Meule and colleagues [7] compared four of the most popular self-report scales for measuring ON: Bratman’s Orthorexia Test (BOT) [2], the ORTO-15 [3], the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ) [8], and the Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale (DOS) [9], examining their factor structure, internal reliability, and the intercorrelations between them Three of these scales (BOT, EHQ, and DOS) demonstrated to be valid and reliable instruments to assess orthorexia nervosa and the high intercorrelations across them (rs > 0.70) indicated that they essentially measure the same construct [10, 11]. In order to overcome the statistical limitations of the ORTO-15 [3] a revised version of this scale has been recently developed, the ORTO-R [12]
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