Inventory Critique: Eating Disorder Inventory

Intro:

There are many types of disorders that people have. Some common types of disorders are eating disorders. "An eating disorder is a psychological malady in which someone obsesses over her intake of food as a way of coping and gaining some control in their life. Approximately 8-10 million people today suffer from some form of an eating disorder" (Casa Palmera, 2009). There are three types of eating disorders. The first being anorexia nervosa. This eating disorder is one in which a person either eats very little or nothing at all and those with this disorder are very thin and approximately 15% or more below the normal body weight for their specific height (Casa Palmera, 2009). The second type of disorder is bulimia nervosa. This is an eating disorder where people with bulimia typically binge eat and then purge what they have just eaten. The last type is called binge eating/compulsive overeating. This is when someone consumes an excessive amount of food in a typically short period of time. Most people with this disorder are obese and have a history of depression (Casa Palmera, 2009). Also, unlike those with bulimia, compulsive eaters do not purge their food. The Eating Disorder Inventory is the latest edition of an instrument developed through 20 years of research in national and international populations of eating-disordered individuals.

Review of assessment:

Test takers are provided with the Eating Disorder item booklet, and an answer sheet. The first page of the item booklet contains questions about demographic information and physical characteristics. The remaining 91 items address psychological constructs associated with eating disorders. The answer sheet is used by the test-taker to record item responses. The scoring sheet and the score summary sheet are used by the examiner to calculate validity scale scores, scale raw scores, T scores, and percentiles (Garner, D., 2004). Test takers are asked to respond to items on a 6-point Likert-type scale containing the response options Always, Usually, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, and Never.

Reliability:

The Eating Disorder Assessment was assessed for reliability on the normative samples of U.S. Adult Clinical (N = 983), International Adult Clinical (N = 662), and U.S. Adolescent Clinical (N = 335) populations (Garner, D., 2004). A composite T-score comprising the scales' Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, and Body Dissatisfaction produced alpha coefficients ranging from .90 to .97 across the three normative groups and diagnostic categories of Anorexia Nervosa-Restricting, Anorexia Nervosa-Bulimic/Purging, Bulimia Nervosa, and Eating Disorder NOS. The remaining subscales demonstrated somewhat lower, but acceptable, alpha coefficients, with medians of .84, .74, and .85 for the respective normative samples (Garner, D., 2004). This shows good internal consistency of item