Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey Revised in Danish adolescents with...

The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Danish translation of Diabetes Eating Problem Survey - Revised (DEPS-R) among adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

A total of 131 adolescents (53% women) with T1D aged 11-19 years completed DEPS-R and Youth Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (YEDE-Q). Additional anthropometric, biochemical, and medical data were obtained from medical records. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed to examine the factor structure of DEPS-R.

The DEPS-R demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.87) and was significantly correlated with YEDE-Q (r = 0.83; p < 0.01), HbA1c (r = 0.35; p < 0.01), zBMI (r = 0.35; p < 0.01), and age (r = 0.20; p < 0.05), indicating high convergent validity. The median DEPS-R score was 10 [5-18] for the entire sample; however, it was significantly higher among women (15 [9-21]) than men (6 [4-10]). Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure accounting for 58% of the variance and indicated that item 4 contributed less strongly to the overall score.

This study supports the validity of DEPS-R as a screening tool for detecting the risk of disordered eating in adolescents with T1D but challenges the relevance of item 4. Future research is needed on updating the original DEPS-R, including a sensitivity analysis of DEPS-R in detecting the risk of serious eating disorder-related behaviour in T1D.