Turkish Adaptation and Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of the Eating Habits Questionnaire, the Barcelona Orthorexia Scale and the Orthorexia Nervosa Scale

Abstract

Orthorexia nervosa (ON), a condition in which people restrict their diet according to the quality of food, means an intense obsession with healthy eating (Bratman, 1997a). Due to the limitations of the measurement tools used to measure ON, 3 measurement tools have been developed recently. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ), the Barcelona Orthorexia Scale (BOS) and the Orthorexia Nervosa Scale (ONS), which were developed to measure the concept of ON by translating them into Turkish. A total of 712 university students (75.3% female, 23.2% male) with a mean age of 21.26 participated in the study. Participants completed the scale set consisting of the EHQ, BOS, ONS, Teruel Orthorexia Scale (TOS), and Just World Belief Scale (JWBS).The factor structures of the scales were tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis. The correlations of the scales with the TOS for convergent validity and with the JWBS for divergent validity were examined. Internal consistency coefficients and test-retest reliability coefficients of the scales were calculated. According to the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, since the fit indices showed that the three measurement tools did not have a good fit, Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed. According to the results of the analysis, EHQ consists of 2 factors, BOS consists of 5 factors, and ONS consists of 2 factors. The internal consistency coefficients of the scales were determined as .90 for EHQ, .96 for BOS, and .87 for ONS. Test-retest reliability coefficients and correlation coefficients checked for convergent and divergent validity are within the desired values. In conclusion, it is seen that all three measurement tools can be used reliably and validly to measure ON in our culture.