Development and validation of the Family Coping Questionnaire for Eating Disorders

To develop and validate a new instrument, the Family Coping Questionnaire for Eating Disorders (FCQ-ED), specifically designed to assess the coping strategies of relatives of patients with eating disorders (EDs).

The study was articulated in the following seven stages: (1) in-depth analysis of scientific literature; (2) focus groups with expert researchers and clinicians in the fields of EDs and family assessment; (3) development of a pre-final version of the questionnaire; (4) recruitment of relatives and patients with EDs; (5) data collection; (6) statistical analysis; (7) finalization of the questionnaire.

The final version of the questionnaire consists of 32 items, grouped in five subscales ("avoidance," "coercion," "collusion," "information," and "positive communication with the patient"), with a Cronbach's alpha ranging between 0.820 and 0.625. All Items with a Cohen's Kappa > 0.60 were included in the final version of the questionnaire. Factor analysis led to the identifications of two factors, the problem-oriented and the emotion-focused coping strategies.

The final version of the questionnaire shows good psychometric properties, and it requires a short time to be completed. The five subscales correspond to those adopted by relatives of patients with schizophrenia, confirming that relatives of patients with EDs need to be supported and informed on how to cope with patient's disturbing behaviours. This questionnaire may be particularly useful for the development of psychoeducational packages for relatives of patients with EDs and the evaluation of the impact of family functioning on the course of the disease.