Assessment of eating disorders: comparison of interview and questionnaire data from a long-term follow-up study of bulimia nervosa.
OBJECTIVE
This paper examines diagnostic agreement between interview and questionnaire assessments of women participating in a long-term follow-up study of bulimia nervosa.


METHODS
Women (N = 162) completed follow-up evaluations comprising questionnaires and either face-to-face or telephone interviews.


RESULTS
Consistent with previous research, rates of eating disorders were higher when assessed by questionnaire than when assessed by interview; however, rates of full bulimia nervosa were similar. Overall diagnostic agreement was adequate for eating disorders (kappa=.64) but poor for bulimia nervosa (kappa=.49), with greater agreement between questionnaires and telephone interviews (kappa's range: .67-.71) than between questionnaires and face-to-face interviews (kappa's range: .35-.58).


CONCLUSIONS
Findings support the possibility that increased rates of eating pathology on questionnaire assessments may be due, in part, to increased candor when participants feel more anonymous. Questionnaire assessments may not be inferior to interview assessments; they may reveal different aspects of disordered eating.
Keel
Pamela K
PK
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. pkeel@wjh.harvard.edu
Crow
Scott
S
Davis
Traci L
TL
Mitchell
James E
JE
D000328:Adult; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure