Eating Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An ...

weight constitute the core symptomatology underlying eating disorders. The factor
structure of the OBQ-EDV was found to be largely consistent with that of the OBQ-44.
Item analysis and internal consistency coefficients yielded encouraging results, whilst
preliminary investigation of the face, content, criterion-related, and construct validity of
the OBQ-EDV was also promising.
The final study investigated scores on the newly developed OBQ-EDV across
clinical and community-based groups. Women with an eating disorder scored higher on
the OBQ-EDV total score than the OCD, depression, and community control groups.
Women with anorexia nervosa were found to have mildly higher scores on the OBQ-
EDV when compared with their counterparts with bulimia nervosa, however a lack of
statistical power due to a small sample size precluded the emergence of any
statistically significant findings. Eating, shape, and weight specific obsessive beliefs
were found to mediate the relationship between general obsessive beliefs (as
measured by the OBQ-44) and eating disorder symptoms.
In the context of these findings, implications and recommendations for clinical
practice are discussed. Directions for future research are also presented, including
replication of the current work given that very few studies have examined obsessive
beliefs in the context of eating disorders, despite well established relationships
between eating disorders and OCD. It is argued that further research is necessary to
provide a more concrete rationale for the acknowledgment of obsessive beliefs in
treatment models for eating disorders. Findings of the current study provide further
support for researchers and practitioners working in the eating disorder field to remain
cognisant of the presence of obsessive-compulsive cognitions in this clinical
population.
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