Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire - R18
TFEQ-R18 is an 18-item self-report of cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating. It is not a diagnosis and not a diet prescription.
Overview
What is the TFEQ?
This entry is the 18-item form, not the original 51-item TFEQ. It does not diagnose an eating disorder and it does not prescribe a diet.
Development and clinical use
The item text, anchors and scale composition follow PhenX protocol 230401. Item 1 uses the working-group sentence about smelling a delicious food. The original questionnaire was published by Stunkard and Messick in 1985.
- Catalogue status
- Educational entry
- Production scoring
- Not independently verified
- Mode
- self-report
- Typical use
- Clinician-reviewed intake
- Clinical role
- Eating-behaviour context for clinician review
Administration
A focused client experience
TFEQ-R18 is completed as a focused self-report and stored for clinician review. This public page does not collect answers or return a score.
- One question at a time with visible progress
- Large keyboard-operable response choices
- Previous, next, and answer-review steps
- Clear confirmation that results go to the clinic
The illustration shows layout only. It does not reproduce TFEQ-R18 item wording.
Report showcase
Designed to make evidence easy to review
The downloadable synthetic example illustrates report layout using invented response patterns, without patient data or instrument questions.
- Named instrument, version, and provenance
- Item-level response pattern without source wording
- Methodology, references, and clinical boundary
- Responsible clinician review rather than automated conclusions
Clinician review required
Methodology
Understand the measure and its scoring conventions
Items 1 to 17 are scored 1 to 4 on their printed anchors. Item 18 is entered from 1 to 8 and recoded to 1 to 4. Cognitive restraint sums items 2, 11, 12, 15, 16 and the recoded item 18, from 6 to 24. Uncontrolled eating sums items 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14 and 17, from 9 to 36. Emotional eating sums items 3, 6 and 10, from 3 to 12. These are raw sums. There are no bands.
References
- PhenX protocol 230401PhenX Toolkit. Protocol 230401, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire R18.
- Original TFEQ paperStunkard AJ, Messick S. The three-factor eating questionnaire to measure dietary restraint, disinhibition and hunger. J Psychosom Res. 1985;29(1):71-83.
Questions
What clinics ask before they evaluate the TFEQ
These answers stay inside educational catalogue scope. They do not replace official manuals or clinician judgement.
Does TFEQ diagnose an eating disorder?
No. It is an eating-behaviour questionnaire. Diagnosis remains a clinician task.
Can I complete TFEQ here?
No. This landing is educational catalogue information.
Are the scores transformed to 0 to 100?
No. This entry reports the raw 1 to 4 scale sums.
Is TFEQ the same as DEBQ?
No. They are different eating-behaviour instruments.