M. Kay Walker

The development of the Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ), a new measure of women's attitudes towards their own bodies

A measure has been developed which assesses a broad range of attitudes which women hold towards their bodies. The Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ) is a 44-item self-report questionnaire whose subscales encompass six distinct aspects of body experience (feelings of overall fatness, self-disparagement, strength, salience of weight, feelings of attractiveness and consciousness of lower body fat). The development of the BAQ involved administering increasingly refined versions to a wide range of female respondents. The final version appears to have satisfactory psychometric properties. When the BAQ scores of 29 patients with anorexia nervosa were compared with those of a large community sample, a more complex pattern of deviant attitudes appeared than would previously have been suspected. The BAQ appears to have potential as a research instrument in this and other fields in which the measurement of attitudes towards the body is important.

Women's body attitudes: A review of measurement techniques

Techniques for measuring womens attitudes towards their own bodies have been reviewed. Four major, measuring strategies were identified: self-report questionnaires, projective tests, silhouette choices, or interview assessments

Pictorial adaptation of Stroop measures of body-related concerns in eating disorders.

Patients with eating disorders were asked to color-name pictures of a variety of body shapes. The time taken to color-name these stimuli was compared with the time taken to color-name a series of neutral visual stimuli. There was a significant delay in naming body shapes in comparison to neutral stimuli, and this delay was greater in anorexic and bulimic patients than in controls. Previous Stroop adaptations have used verbal stimuli to assess the intensity of weight and shape-related concerns. The possible advantages of pictorial stimuli are discussed.

CUTANEOUS ABNORMALITIES IN ANOREXIA NERVOSA

Anorexia Nervosa (A.N.) is a relatively common eating disorder with well recognized psychological and physiological features. A study of 14 female patients with A.N. revealed a number of dermatological disorders, including lanugo hair, xeroderma and hyperpigmentation.

Repeated administration of the adapted stroop test: Feasibility for longitudinal study of psychopathology in eating disorders

This Study investigated the feasibility of using Adapted Stroop Tests repeatedly in the investigation of psychopatholo gy in eating disorders. Alternate, parallel versions of the Food Stroop and Shape Stroop were presented to female volunteers without prior history of eating disorder, with a 2-week interval before repetition. Subjects were randomly allocated to same or different versions of the respective Stroop Tests on the two occasions. No differences were found in performance on either versions of the Stroop Tests, whether the same was repeated or if different versions were used. Therefore Adapted Stroop Tests can safely be repeated with eating disorder patients without fear of a learning effect, and different versions of both Food and Shape Stroops can be regarded as equivalent, when developed together. Researchers using different words chosen in different populations are not guaranteed of obtaining the same results.

Low levels of interrater reliability in a standard measure of outcome in eating disorders (The modified Morgan-Russell assessment Schedule)

OBJECTIVE The interrater reliability of the modified version of the widely used Morgan-Russell Assessment Schedule was assessed. METHOD Sixty-six female patients presenting for treatment for the first time in a general hospital and a community health center were assessed by a treating clinician and a researcher during sequential interviews. Two extra items were added to the Schedule to allow for the assessment of bulimic behaviors. Ratings were analyzed using the Cohens weighted kappa. RESULTS Poor to very poor levels of agreement were found between rater pairs assessing the 66 separate patients. DISCUSSION The necessity for a specific, standardized format in using the Morgan-Russell Schedule is discussed. In its current, unstandardized format the Schedule may not be suitable for comparing outcome in eating disorders across different centers.

Effect of a Mirror on Body-Size Estimation

This study investigated the effect of mirror feedback on body-width estimation in 66 normal adolescent girls. The presence of the mirror had no substantive effect on their estimating behaviour. The authors argue that the results cast further doubt on width estimation as a valid method for accessing the internalized image of the self.