The Anorexia Nervosa Stages of Change Questionnaire (ANSOCQ): information regarding its psychometric properties

OBJECTIVE: The Anorexia Nervosa Stages of Change Questionnaire (ANSOCQ) was developed to assess patients' readiness to recover from anorexia nervosa. In this article we present additional findings supporting the psychometric properties of the ANSOCQ. METHOD: Forty-four inpatients with anorexia nervosa participated in the study. At the time of admission, patients were requested to complete the ANSOCQ as well as several other self-report questionnaires assessing constructs related to readiness to change. RESULTS: The ANSOCQ demonstrated good construct-related validity in that significant correlations emerged between the ANSOCQ and instruments assessing the theoretically related constructs of decisional balance and self-efficacy. DISCUSSION: Having developed a reliable and valid self-report questionnaire for the assessment of readiness to change in anorexia nervosa, the ANSOCQ provides a means of addressing motivational hypotheses which have been advanced in the context of eating disorders.