Abstract

MOYA, Tatiana et al. The Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA): development and validation. Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr. [online]. 2005, vol.27, n.1, pp. 25-31. ISSN 1516-4446.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-44462005000100008.

OBJECTIVE: Development and validation of the Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). It is a package of questionnaires, interviews and evaluation techniques, designed to generate DSM-IV and ICD-10 based diagnoses of anorexia, bulimia nervosa and the respective partial syndromes in epidemiological studies, in subjects who are 7 to 17 years old. The parents are interviewed in all cases, as are young people aged 11 or more. METHODS: 174 girls, divided into three groups, were assessed with the Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment: 48 with eating disorders, 55 clinical controls (with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or gastrointestinal disease) and 71 community controls. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the assessment were investigated by comparing the Development and Well-Being Assessment diagnoses with independent psychiatric diagnoses. The test-retest reliability was investigated by reapplying the measure on 55 subjects after 2 or 3 weeks. RESULTS: For the detection of any DSM-IV and ICD-10 eating disorder, the final Development and Well-Being Assessment diagnosis had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94%, positive predictive value of 88%, and a negative predictive value of 100%; there was 95% agreement between the initial and repeat diagnoses (a kappa of 0.81). CONCLUSION: The Eating Disorders Section of the Development and Well-Being Assessment has suitable psychometric properties for use in clinical and epidemiological studies.

Keywords : Eating disorders [diagnosis]; Eating disorders [epidemiology]; Food habits; Anorexia nervosa; Bulimia; Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders; Interview, psychological; Mental disorders; Children; Adolescent.