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Updated: Jun 20, 2025

A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
Parent version of the Eating Disorder Examination: Reliability and validity in a treatment-seeking sample
Lisa Hail1, Catherine R Drury2,3, Robert E McGrath4
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, 675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Background:
Assessment of eating disorders (ED) in youth relies heavily on self-report, yet persistent lack of recognition of the presence and/or seriousness of symptoms can be intrinsic to ED. This study examines the psychometric properties of a semi-structured interview, the parent version of the Eating Disorder Examination (PEDE), developed to systematically assess caregiver report of symptoms.
Methods:
A multi-site, clinical sample of youth (N = 522; age range: 12 to 18 years) seeking treatment for anorexia nervosa (AN) and subsyndromal AN were assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) for youth and the PEDE for collateral caregiver report.
Results:
Internal consistencies of the four PEDE subscales were on par with established ranges for the EDE. Significant medium-sized correlations and poor to moderate levels of agreement were found between the corresponding subscales on each measure. For the PEDE, confirmatory factor analysis of the EDE four-factor model provided a poor fit; an exploratory factor analysis indicated that a 3-factor model better fits the PEDE.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest that the PEDE has psychometric properties on par with the original EDE. The addition of the caregiver perspective may provide incremental information that can aid in the assessment of AN in youth. Future research is warranted to establish psychometric properties of the PEDE in broader transdiagnostic ED samples.
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