Comparative validity of the Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the Night Eating Questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the Mandarin Chinese version of the Night Eating Questionnaire (C-NEQ) and compared these measures' validity.


METHODS
The C-NEQ was evaluated through two different media: 626 participants completed the C-NEQ on the Internet and 160 participants completed the paper-form C-NEQ at the psychiatric outpatient clinics. A subgroup completed both versions of the C-NEQ (n=50). The Night Eating Syndrome History and Inventory was used to identify individuals with night eating syndrome (NES).


RESULTS
The paper-and-pencil and Internet versions of the C-NEQ both showed good internal consistency, reliability, and concurrent validity. Reliability between the Internet and the paper-and-pencil versions of the C-NEQ was excellent (ICC=.96). Diagnostic analysis of the C-NEQ's performance using the Receiver Operation Curve method showed excellent results in both versions; the area under the curve did not differ significantly between the versions. Regarding detecting NES, the Internet version had a higher optimal cutoff point than the paper-and-pencil version (23 and 22, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the C-NEQ both showed strong reliability and validity; however the two versions appear to differ marginally regarding usage in NES detection.
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Yunlin, 64041. Electronic address: t70552@hotmail.com.
Chao-Ying
CY
Tu
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City 22060, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10051, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, Oriental Institute of Technology, New Taipei City 22061, Taiwan. Electronic address: mctseng@ntu.edu.tw.
Mei-Chih Meg
MM
Tseng
Department of Medical Research, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, 10055, Taiwan. Electronic address: chinhao@ntuh.gov.tw.
Chin-Hao
CH
Chang
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10051, Taiwan; Yujie Clinic, Taipei, 10611, Taiwan. Electronic address: linchri@gmail.com.
Chao-Cheng
CC
Lin
D021081:Chronobiology Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations