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A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
The Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA): development and validation
Tatiana Moya1, Bacy Fleitlich-Bilyk, Robert Goodman
1Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, Brazil. tatimoya@uol.com.br
Objective:
Development and validation of the Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). It is a package of questionnaires, interviews and evaluation techniques, designed to generate DSM-IV and ICD-10 based diagnoses of anorexia, bulimia nervosa and the respective partial syndromes in epidemiological studies, in subjects who are 7 to 17 years old. The parents are interviewed in all cases, as are young people aged 11 or more.
Methods:
174 girls, divided into three groups, were assessed with the Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment: 48 with eating disorders, 55 clinical controls (with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or gastrointestinal disease) and 71 community controls. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the assessment were investigated by comparing the Development and Well-Being Assessment diagnoses with independent psychiatric diagnoses. The test-retest reliability was investigated by reapplying the measure on 55 subjects after 2 or 3 weeks.
Results:
For the detection of any DSM-IV and ICD-10 eating disorder, the final Development and Well-Being Assessment diagnosis had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94%, positive predictive value of 88%, and a negative predictive value of 100%; there was 95% agreement between the initial and repeat diagnoses (a kappa of 0.81).
Conclusion:
The Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment has suitable psychometric properties for use in clinical and epidemiological studies.
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