EDE-Q — Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire

The EDE-Q is the dominant self-report measure of eating-disorder psychopathology. Fairburn and Beglin derived it from the clinician-administered Eating Disorder Examination interview; the current 6.0 version is the appendix instrument in Fairburn’s 2008 CBT-E manual. It’s the standard outcome measure in CBT-E and the standard severity instrument when a SCOFF screen comes back positive.

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What it measures

Eating-disorder psychopathology across four attitude subscales plus six behavioural-frequency items, all asking about the past 28 days:

• Restraint (items 1–5) — dietary restraint
• Eating concern (items 7, 9, 19, 20, 21) — preoccupation with food and eating
• Shape concern (items 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 27, 28) — body-shape preoccupation and dissatisfaction
• Weight concern (items 8, 12, 22, 24, 25) — weight preoccupation and dissatisfaction
• Frequency items (13–18) — counts of binge episodes, vomiting, laxative use, and compensatory exercise

Attitude items are rated 0–6. Frequency items are integer counts. Items 8, 16, 17, 25, 27, and 28 are flagged sensitive — purging, body disgust, weighing-and-measuring. The intake panel handles them with the same trauma-informed presentation as other sensitive items.

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When to send it

• After a positive SCOFF when you want symptom dimensions and severity
• Intake when an eating disorder is a presenting concern
• Pre/post and monthly tracking during CBT-E or any eating-disorder treatment
• Discharge documentation for the eating-disorder outcome record

The 28 items take 10–15 minutes. Async administration in the week before session works well — the 28-day window gives the client space to think about patterns rather than the past 24 hours.

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Scoring and severity cutoffs

Four attitude subscale sums: The cutoffs are derived from the canonical average ≥4.0 clinical-concern threshold × item count. The six frequency items (13–18) are captured but not scored — you inspect binge / vomiting / laxative / exercise counts directly. Items 16 and 17 (vomiting, laxatives) are flagged sensitive.

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EDE-Q vs SCOFF

Different jobs. The SCOFF is a five-question screen that answers yes-or-no in half a minute. The EDE-Q is the assessment and outcome measure — twenty-eight items over the past month, four attitude subscales, and separate counts of binge episodes, vomiting, laxative use and compensatory exercise. Those frequency counts are worth noting on their own: they are captured as numbers and deliberately not folded into any subscale score, because how often someone purged in the last month is a clinical fact you read directly, not something to average away. Routine intake screening is the SCOFF’s job. Once eating is on the table, the EDE-Q is what you administer and what you re-administer.

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Is it free to use?

Yes. Free clinical and research use, per Fairburn’s CBT-E manual, where the questionnaire appears as an appendix.

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Citation

Fairburn, C. G., & Beglin, S. J. (2008). Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0). In C. G. Fairburn, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eating Disorders. New York: Guilford Press. Original development: Fairburn, C. G., & Beglin, S. J. (1994). Assessment of eating disorders: Interview or self-report questionnaire? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 16(4), 363–370. Free for clinical and research use; the verbatim canonical wording is preserved in Rivet’s template.

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When not to use it

The EDE-Q is a severity and symptom-dimension instrument, not a brief screen. For a quick flag — primary care, time-pressured intake — use the SCOFF. The 28-day frame can miss acute recent change; a positive SCOFF in the past week is meaningful even with a low EDE-Q. Both can be appropriate at intake when you want the screen-plus-severity pair.

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