ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To establish the validity and internal consistency of the bulimic investigatory test, Edinburgh (BITE) in a non-clinical population of university students in Colombia. METHODS: A validation study with a cross-sectional sampling was designed. Two-hundred and sixty-one students were evaluated independently and blindly with BITE and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Kuder-Richardson's test, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood values, Cohen kappa, area under the ROC curve for BITE's symptoms scale and Cronbach's alpha for severity scale were computed. RESULTS: The Kuder-Richardson's test was 0.86, two factors were identified which explain the 22.68% and 7.12% of variance. Cronbach's alpha for severity scale was 0.52. Area under ROC curve was 0.9736. The best cutoff point was 11 with sensitivity of 94.59%, specificity of 91.52%, positive predictive value of 64.81%, negative predictive value of 99.03%; with a concordance of 0.7226. CONCLUSIONS: The BITE's symptom scale is useful in identifying clinically binge-eaters in university students.
Subject(s)
Bulimia Nervosa/diagnosis , Mass Screening , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Students/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Bulimia Nervosa/epidemiology , Bulimia Nervosa/psychology , Colombia , Cross-Sectional Studies , Feeding and Eating Disorders/diagnosis , Feeding and Eating Disorders/epidemiology , Feeding and Eating Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , ROC Curve , Reference Values , Reproducibility of Results , Students/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the internal consistency and criteria validity of the SCOFF questionnaire for screening adolescent eating behaviour disorders. DESIGN: Validation study with stochastic sampling. SETTING: Three schools at Bucaramanga, Colombia. PARTICIPANTS: 241 students selected at random from 1595 possible ones. MAIN INTERVENTIONS: SCOFF questionnaire and semi-structured CIDI interview, administered independently. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Social and personal details, Cronbach's alpha, sensitivity analysis, specificity, forecast values, Cohen mean kappa test, and ROC curve. RESULTS: Sensitivity found was 81.9% (95% CI, 70.7-89.7) and specificity, 78.7% (95% CI, 71.7-84.6). The area under the ROC curve was 0.8596 (95% CI, 0.8108-0.9084); the Cronbach's alpha test, 0.436, and the Cohen mean kappa, 0.554 (95% CI, 0.425-0.683). CONCLUSIONS: The SCOFF questionnaire is an acceptable alternative for screening groups of adolescents because of its simplicity and speed of administration.
