Repetitive Eating Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity of Turkish Version and Correlates of Grazing Behavior

Abstract

Objectives: Grazing behaviour which is defined as repetitive and unplanned eating behaviour with small amounts of food over a period of time , has been increasingly recognised among people with obesity and eating disorders, as well as in the general population The Repetitive Eating Questionnaire (Rep(eat)-Q) is a 12 item self-report scale which was designed to measure the grazing behaviour. It demonstrating a compulsive and non-compulsive forms of grazing in previous studies. The aim of the present study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version Rep(eat)-Q in a community sample from Turkey. Method: Permission was taken from the designer of the measure . Ethical approval was granted from the local ethic Committee. The Turkish version was developed by translation and back-translation and the opinion from the local experts were obtained. The Rep(eat)-Q along with a purpose-designed socio-demographic form and other self-report measures (SCOFF eating questionnaire,, Yale Food Addiction Scale, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire ) were administered online to 263 of people from a convenient sample using a snowball technique. Internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity were calculated. Confirmatory factor analyses were also conducted for the factor structure. Results: The mean age of participants were 34.4 with 77.2 % female and mean body mass index (BMI) of 24.7. As in the original scale, the fit of the two-factor structure (compulsive grazing and repetitive eating) was analysed by Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). CFA showed that the Turkish version had a two-dimensional structure as with the original form and indicated good fit (ε2 = 122, df = 48, ε2 / df = 0.77; RMSEA = 0.973; CFI = 0.962; TLI = 0.981; SRMR = 0.028). In our study, positive and moderately significant correlation between BMI and Rep(eat)-Q compulsive subscale was found; no significant correlation was found between the repetitive subscale and the BMI (r= 0.156; p=0.07). The Rep(eat)-Q scales showed excellent internal consistency both for the whole scale and the two subscales (total score Cronbach's alpha 0.947; compulsive grazing Cronbach's alpha 0.931; repetitive eating Cronbach's alpha 0.916). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that Turkish version of Rep(eat)-Q seems to be a valid and reliable tool in assessing grazing behaviour in a non-clinical Turkish sample . It also confirmed the proposed two factor structure ( compulsive and non-compulsive) supporting the two subtypes of grazing behaviour.. Further studies are needed to assess its validity and reliability in clinical subgroups.