Reliability of an Arabic version of the Short Form Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale

Abstract

Background: Food addiction (FA) is a growing problem worldwide, associated with physical and psychological dysfunction. The original Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) was developed in 2009 for diagnosis of FA. Updated long and short forms of the Scale were developed in 2016 and 2017 respectively. An Arabic version of the updated short form suiting epidemiological purposes is lacking. Objective(s): The study aimed to adapt and test reliability of an Arabic version of the short form modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS 2.0) for epidemiological purposes in Arab countries. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Alexandria, Egypt from June1st to September15th 2019. The short form mYFAS 2.0 was translated into Arabic language following the WHO translation guidelines. A self-report questionnaire including both English and Arabic versions was completed by 296 Arab adults fluent in Arabic and English, interviewed at public places. Weight and height were self-reported and Body Mass Index was calculated. Results: Kuder-Richardson alpha was 0.89 and 0.92 and Cronbach's Alpha was 0.93 and 0.94 for symptoms and the whole scale respectively. Cronbach's alpha decreased if any item was deleted. Corrected item-total correlation coefficients ranged between 0.5-0.7. These values indicate good internal consistency. Kappa coefficients ranged between 0.85-0.99 (P<0.001) indicating almost perfect agreement between Arabic and English versions of mYFAS 2.0. Food addiction rate was 17.6%. Conclusion: The present study adapted a reliable Arabic version of mYFAS 2.0 that can be a substitute to the English version in epidemiological work. The study recommends further multidisciplinary population studies to assess the problem, determine correlates and suggest appropriate interventions.

The Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 and the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 in Taiwan: Factor structure and concurrent validity

“…This may be due to transcultural adjustment (i.e., the cross-cultural item adjustment affects the scale's original factor structure) and regional influences (e.g., the unique dietary habits in the area the study was carried out). Regarding the internal consistency, all previous studies have shown that the mYFAS 2.0 has a good α value (18,19,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)47). Moreover, the concurrent validity verified through the correlations between food addiction and the selected measures have demonstrated good to excellent results in all previous studies.…”

“…Moreover, the concurrent validity verified through the correlations between food addiction and the selected measures have demonstrated good to excellent results in all previous studies. BMI has been the most frequently used measure to examine the concurrent validity of the mYFAS 2.0 (19,21,22,47). Other measures such as impulsivity (21,23) and binge eating (19,22) have also been used in other studies as the validators and have found to be significantly associated with food addiction as assessed using the mYFAS 2.0.…”

Symptoms of Nomophobia, Psychological Aspects, Insomnia and Physical Activity: A Cross-Sectional Study of ESports Players in Saudi Arabia

“…The sixth part of the survey is related to the YFAS 2.0 SF, which was created in 2009 primarily to assess symptoms of addictive-like eating behavior and the difficulty in regulating food intake of such food types as candy, starches, salty snacks, fatty foods and other beverages such as sugary drinks [ 44 ]. The self-report, validated, modified and updated short forms of the Arabic version were used in the current study [ 45 ]. The Arabic version has 13 items, each of which is evaluated on an 8-point Likert scale from 0 to 7 on a range from “never” to “daily” over the last 12 months.…”

Confirmatory factor analysis and gender invariance of Persian version of the modified Yale food addiction scale (mPYFAS) 2.0: insight from a large scale Iranian sample

“…The mYFAS 2.0 has been successfully translated into various languages, such as Italian [ 6 ], French [ 7 ], Czech [ 8 ], Arabic [ 9 , 10 ], Brazilian Portuguese [ 11 ], Spanish [ 12 ], Turkish [ 13 ], Malay [ 14 ], traditional Chinese [ 15 , 16 ], and simplified Chinese [ 17 , 18 ]. Regarding Persian translations of the earlier YFAS [ 19 ] and YFAS 2.0 [ 20 ], A Persian version of the short form mPYFAS 2.0 that suits epidemiological purposes in Persian culture is lacking.…”