Reliability and cross-validation of the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ): Hebrew version.

Abstract

Background: Several developments in diagnosing night eating syndrome (NES) occurred during the last decade. New proposed diagnostic criteria are now available, and a short Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) was published. The study aims were to validate the NEQ for assessing NES, to identify the optimal NEQ cut-point for NES diagnosis, and to validate and test the internal reliability of the translated Hebrew version of the NEQ.

Method: 141 participants completed the questionnaire and a diagnostic interview, divided into four groups: NES (n=59), Partial diagnosis PD-NES (n=42), other eating disorders (n=8) and controls (32). Validity was measured by calculating reliability, factor structure, and comparing the interview diagnosis to the NEQ score using different cut scores.

Results: Cronbach's alpha was 0.78, and principal components analysis yielded a five factor structure. A cut score of 21 provided the best balance of false and true positive diagnosis.

Conclusions: We concluded that the NEQ may be an acceptable screening instrument for assessing NES symptomatology.