Psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) in a sample of community adults.

Background: There is a growing attention on intuitive eating (IE) styles in the Western world that has not yet reached Arab countries, which is likely due to the lack of psychometrically sound measures of the IE construct for Arabic-speaking people. The current study aims to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the most widely used measure of IE—the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), in an Arabic-speaking community population from Lebanon. Methods: Two samples of Arabic-speaking community adults from Lebanon (sample 1: n = 359, 59.9% females, age 22.75 ± 7.04 years; sample 2: n = 444, 72.7% females, age 27.25 ± 9.53 years) were recruited through online convenience sampling. The translation and back-translation method was applied to the IES-2 for linguistic validation. Factorial validity was investigated using an Exploratory Factor Analysis & Confirmatory Factor Analysis strategy. Composite reliability and sex invariance were examined. We also tested convergent and criterion-related validity through correlations with other theoretically plausible constructs. Results: Nine out of the original 23 items were removed because they either loaded below 0.40 and/or cross-loaded too highly on multiple factors. This resulted in four domains (Unconditional Permission to Eat, Eating for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons, Reliance on Hunger and Satiety Cues, and Body-Food Choice Congruence) and 14 items retained. Internal reliability estimates were excellent, with McDonald's ω values ranging from 0.828 to 0.923 for the four factors. Multigroup analysis established configural, thresholds, metric, scalar, strict invariance across gender. Finally, higher IES-2 total scores were significantly correlated with lower body dissatisfaction scores and more positive eating attitudes, thus attesting to convergent and criterion-related validity of the scale. Conclusions: The current findings provide preliminary evidence for the appropriate psychometric qualities of the Arabic 14-item, four-factor structure IES-2; thereby supporting its use at least among Arabic-speaking community adults. Plain English Summary: Diet restriction has proven costly and ineffective in promoting long-term weight loss. As an alternative, innovative behavioral approaches have been proposed, such as intuitive eating (IE) practices. IE focuses on enhancing intrinsic motivation for eating healthily, thus creating effective, sustainable lifestyle changes. The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) is the most widely used measure to assess IE in patients and the general population. This scale explores four components of IE: Unconditional Permission to Eat (i.e., not trying to stave off hunger and refusing to label certain foods as forbidden), Eating for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons (i.e., eating when physically hungry rather than for emotional reasons), Reliance on Hunger and Satiety Cues (i.e., trusting one's own internal satiety and hunger cues and relying on them to guide eating behaviors), and Body-Food Choice Congruence (i.e., the extent to which individuals make food choices that promote their body functioning and performance). Since its development, the IES-2 has been translated into different languages and validated in different countries and populations. However, no Arabic version of the IES-2 is yet available. We proposed in the current study to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the IES-2 in an Arabic-speaking community population from Lebanon. Findings provided preliminary evidence for the appropriate psychometric qualities of the Arabic IES-2; thereby supporting its use at least among Arabic-speaking community adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]