Developing and Testing a Picture-Based Questionnaire to Measure Food-Related Beliefs and Expected Symptoms

The Food Expectation Questionnaire (FEX-Q) has been developed and validated to measure food-related symptom expectations in patients with IBS.

• Food-related gastrointestinal symptoms are common in individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
• Dietary components may influence symptoms through direct effects in the gut.
• Cognitive expectations may play a role in how symptoms are perceived, linking the gut and brain.
• A validated tool to assess food-related symptom expectations was lacking prior to this development.

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