New developments in the assessment of weight-related experiential avoidance (AAQW-Revised)

The present study aims to contribute to the further development of the AAQW by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on the existent factor structures and testing the measurement invariance across groups, through a multi-group analysis. Three distinct samples were used: the CFA used 215 women from the general population with BMI<25 (sample 1); 210 overweight or obese treatment seeking (sample 2); AAQW's temporal stability and sensitivity to change was assessed using a sample of 58 overweight and obese women enrolled in Kg-Free (sample 3). Results supported a revised and shorter version of the AAQW (10 items) that we call AAQW-R (revised) with a three-factor structure (food as control, weight as barrier to living, weight-stigma) that showed a good fit to the data. Also, the measurement invariance across groups was confirmed. Finally, AAQW-R proved to be a reliable, stable measure and sensitive to clinical changes. Overall, this study offers new advances in the assessment of weight-related experiential avoidance, proposing a revised version of the AAQW. Moreover, it provides evidence for the usefulness of the AAQW-R both in general and clinical populations.