Structured interview for anorexia and bulimia nervosa (SIAB): Development of a new instrument for the assessment of eating disorders

The Structured Interview for Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa (SIAB) was developed as a semi-standardized interview for reliable and valid assessment of specific as well as general psychopathology and of family interaction and pathology in eating disorders. Principal components analyses (PCA) with varimax rotation produced the following six components for the psychopathology scale (SIAB-P): (1) body-image and ideal of slimness; (2) social integration and sexuality; (3) depression; (4) compulsion and anxiety; (5) bulimic symptoms, and (6) laxative abuse. The family interaction and pathology scale (SIAB-FAM) produced the four components: (1) parental marital dissatisfaction; (2) achievement orientation and performance expectancy; (3) rigidity and disturbed family interactions; and (4) family closeness and enmeshment. High interrater reliability and high internal consistency where established for the present (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93) and for the past symptom expression in the SIAB-psychopathology scale and the SIAB-FAM. The alpha coefficients indicated a satisfactory degree of internal consistency also for each subscale of the SIAB-P and the SIAB-FAM. Results of the principle components analyses with rotation are presented for 346 eating-disordered patients and 111 healthy community controls. For the purpose of validation, correlations with subscales of a self-rating scale for eating disorders [Anorexia Nervosa Inventory for Self-rating (ANIS)] and an interview for eating disorders [Eating Disorder Examination (EDE)] are presented. DSM-III-R and ICD 10 diagnoses for eating disorders can be directly derived from the SIAB-P.