Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Gender of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire-Short Form...

Area of Science:

• Occupational health
• Psychometrics
• Eating disorder research

Background:

• Eating disorders (EDs) significantly impact health and workplace productivity.
• Assessing EDs in occupational settings is an underexplored area.
• Validating screening tools for workplace use is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire-Short Form (EDE-QS).
• To assess the reliability and validity of the EDE-QS in a large sample of Italian workers.
• To examine measurement invariance across gender in an occupational health context.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an Item Response Theory (IRT) framework with a graded response model.
• Administered the Italian EDE-QS to 1912 workers undergoing health surveillance.
• Tested dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance (configural, metric, scalar) across gender.

Main Results:

• The Italian EDE-QS demonstrated an approximate unidimensional structure with excellent internal consistency (ω ≈ 0.95).
• Configural and metric invariance were supported across gender, but full scalar invariance was not achieved due to differential item functioning (DIF).
• Latent mean differences were small, with women scoring slightly higher; associations with other variables were similar across genders.

Conclusions:

• The Italian EDE-QS is a promising brief measure for assessing ED symptomatology in occupational samples.
• Gender-related item bias necessitates cautious interpretation of specific behaviors identified by the EDE-QS.
• Tailored assessments may be needed to improve diagnostic accuracy and inform workplace interventions for eating disorders.