Assessment of psychological predictors of weight loss: How and what for?

Table 1 Summary of the tests most commonly used in the evaluation of psychological condition

	Areas of evaluation	Uses	Domains/subscales	NO. of items	Limits
Self Motivation Inventory[26]	Self motivation	Community samples, clinical populations	Tendency to persevere, finish tasks initiated, maintain self-discipline, motivate oneself	40	Not specific for obese subjects Assesses only the trait-like construct of self-motivation Does not include specific items to investigate expectations about health or weight
General Self-Efficacy Scale[37]	General self-efficacy	Community samples, clinical populations		10	Not specific for obese subjects
Eating Self-Efficacy Scale[38]	Perceived control over food consumption	Dieting and/or overweight individuals	Two dimensions of efficacy to control overeating: Negative affect, socially acceptable circumstances	25	-
Weight Efficacy Life-Style Questionnaire[39]	Self-efficacy in weight management	Patients with obesity	Five dimensions of efficacy for weight management: Negative emotions, availability, social pressure, physical discomfort, positive activities	20	Neither the total, nor the five subscales scores were associated with either program attendance or weight loss[57]
Internal-External Scale[46]	Locus of control beliefs	Community samples, clinical populations	-	23	Not specific for obese subjects Does not include specific items to investigate expectations about health or weight
Multidimensional Health Locus Of Control Scale[47]	Locus of control in relation to specific health conditions and behaviors	Community samples, clinical populations	Internality, chance externality, powerful others externality	18	Not specific for obese subjects Does not include specific items to investigate expectations about health or weight Individuals could no longer be classified as “internals” or “externals” (compared to other questionnaires evaluating locus of control)
Dieting Beliefs Scale[48]	Locus of control with respect to personal weight	Dieting individuals	-	16	-
Weight Locus Of Control Scale[49]	Locus of control with respect to personal weight	Dieting individuals	-	4	-
Medical Outcomes Study: Short Form-36[56]	Health-related quality of life	Clinical populations	Physical function, role limitations (physical), vitality, general health perceptions, bodily pain, social function, role limitations (emotional), mental health	36	Not specific for obese subjects Does not measure disease-specific domains Lacks in sensitivity to detect small treatment effects It is recommended that it be used in conjunction with an obesity specific questionnaire[56] Does not include specific items to investigate expectations about weight Considers all individual psychological symptoms equally relevant in the determination of the patients’ well-being
Impact Of Weight On Quality Of Life Questionnaire[57]	Health-related quality of life	Patients with obesity	Health,social/interpersonal life, work, mobility, self-esteem, sexual life, daily activities, living, comfort with food	74	Considers all individual psychological symptoms equally relevant in the determination of the patients’ well-being
Impact Of Weight On Quality Of Life Questionnaire-Lite[58]	Health-related quality of life	Psychiatric patients, patients with obesity	Physical Function, self-esteem, sexual life,public distress, work	31	Considers all individual psychological symptoms equally relevant in the determination of the patients’ well-being
Obesity Related Well-Being (ORWELL 97) Questionnaire[59]	Health-related quality of life	Patients with obesity	Perceived psychological status and social adjustment, physical symptoms and impairment	18	Weaknesses were found when trying to correlate Body Mass Index with sub-scores of the questionnaire
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale[65]	Global self-esteem	Community samples, clinical populations	-	10	Not specific for obese subjects Does not include specific items to investigate expectations about health or weight Measures global self-esteem and not the sub-domains of self-esteem
Tangney Self Control Scale[71]	General self-control	Community samples, clinical populations		36	Not specific for obese subjects
Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18,-R21[76,77]	Domains of eating behavior	Community samples, obese individuals	Cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating	18; 21
Body Attitude Questionnaire[87]	Body attitudes	Patients with eating disorders	Feelings of overall fatness, self-disparagement, strength, salience of weight, feelings of attractiveness, consciousness of lower body fat	44	Not specific for obese subjects Originally developed only for women
Body Shape Questionnaire[88]	Concerns about body shape and "feeling fat"	Community samples, patients with eating disorder	-	34	Originally developed for use in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Not appropriate for assessing body dissatisfaction in males
Physical Self-Perception Profile[89]	Self-evaluations in the physical domain	Community samples, clinical populations	Sport competence, perception of physical condition and fitness, perception of an attractive body, perception of physical strength, physical self-worth	30	Not specific for obese subjects
Body Cathexis Questionnaire[90]	Body dissatisfaction	Community samples, clinical populations	-	46	Not specific for obese subjects
Body Satisfaction Scale[91]	Body dissatisfaction	Community samples, patients with eating disorder, overweight subjects	-	16	Not specific for obese subjects
Body Parts Dissatisfaction Scale[92]	Body dissatisfaction	Community samples, clinical populations	Parts wished were smaller, parts wished were bigger, parts with which content	7	Developed for use in adolescents girls
Goals And Relative Weights Questionnaire[94]	Factors that influence selection of a weight goal, weight loss goals as “dream weight”, “happy weight”, “acceptable weight”, “disappointed weight”	Overweight and obese patients	-		-
Temperament And Character Inventory[107]	Normal and abnormal personality traits	Community samples, clinical populations	Novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, self-transcendence	240	Not specific for obese subjects
Karolinska Scales Of Personality[108]	Personality traits associated with vulnerability for psychological deviance	Patients with various psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders	Guilt, indirect aggression, irritability, suspiciousness, verbal aggression, inhibition of aggression, muscle tension, psychasthenia, psychic anxiety, somatic anxiety, socialization, social desirability, detachment, impulsiveness, monotony avoidance	135	Not specific for obese subjects Designed to evaluate abnormal personality, rather than variations of normal personality
Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20[111,112]	Alexithymia	Community samples, clinical populations	Difficulty describing feelings, difficulty identifying feeling, externally-oriented thinking	20	Not specific for obese subjects
Revised Neo Personality Lnventory[116]	Five broad personality domains	Community samples, clinical populations	Extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience; six specific facet scales in each of five broad domains	240	Not specific for obese subjects