Development, Validity and Reliability of Sexual Health Measures for Spinal Cord Injured Patients in Iran

BACKGROUND: This study developed and validated a questionnaire to measure the sexual health of patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Brain and Spinal Injury Research Center (BASIR), Tehran, Iran. Extensive review of literature, expert opinions, and encounters with SCI patients were used to develop and validate the questionnaires. There were 40 (32 males, 8 females) patients with SCI that presented for treatment at BASIR who enrolled in the study. Participants completed the questionnaires while they were admitted for medical care and during treatment follow-up visits. Participants completed the questionnaires twice, at a 2-4 week interval. Reliability testing for each measure was performed separately. Cronbach’s alpha was used for internal consistency and test-retest was used for reliability. RESULTS: An expert committee approved the face and content validities of the questionnaires, Internal consistency of our questionnaires, was acceptable according to Cronbach’s alpha that ranged from 0.73 for the sexual activity measure to 0.90 for the sexual adjustment measure. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of measures ranged from 0.65 for sexual function to 0.84 for sexual activity. CONCLUSION: The sexual health measures has provided a valid assessment of sexualityrelated matters in this sample of patients with SCI, which suggests that evaluation of sexual well-being may be useful in clinical trials and practice settings. Overall, the sexual health measures shows good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.