Revision of the Sensory Eating Problem Scale – revised and development of cut-off scores

Objectives The goals of the study were to revise the Sensory Eating Problem Scale (SEPS) to smell items and to develop cut-off scores for this measure.Methods Participants included 428 children referred to a feeding clinic and a comparison sample of 136 children who had not received feeding therapy. Factor analysis was used to develop a new smell subscale. ROC analysis was used to develop cut-off scores. Validity testing was conducted by comparing the scores of the clinical and non-clinical groups on the revised SEPS on four additional measures including measures of diet variety, texture, oral behaviors, and mealtime behaviors.Results Factor analysis resulted in a 3-item measure of smell sensitivity. Three items previously included in the original SEPS were eliminated due to inadequate factor loadings resulting in a 22-item revised measure. Using SEPS-R mean cutoff score of 1.52 (out of 5), 88% of children referred to the feeding program and 12% of children in the control sample were identified with sensory eating problems. Children identified with a sensory feeding problem ate fewer foods and had more problems with texture, oral behaviors, mealtime behaviors than controls.Conclusions The SEPS-R was able to accurately identify children with sensory feeding problems.