Development and psychometric properties of a questionnaire to assess the Iranian women’s sexual self-efficacy

Abstract

Background & Aim: It is necessary to have a valid, reliable, and socio-cultural appropriate questionnaire for evaluation of women's sexual self-efficacy. Therefore, the objective of the study was the development and psychometric evaluation of the context-based questionnaire for women's sexual self-efficacy. Methods & Materials: The study was conducted during two phases on clients visiting the healthcare centers of Tehran University of medical sciences in 2018. In the first phase, Iranian women' sexual self-efficacy, and its dimensions were explored through thematic analysis, and it was compiled in 24 items by the deductive-inductive method. In the second phase, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were tested using face, content, construct, and criterion validity and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient. Results: Iranian women's sexual self-efficacy was defined as "women' ability to make sexual relationship which leads to mutual orgasm or sexual satisfaction." Sexual relationship, the proper level of sexual self-expression, women's ability in the management of her and husband's sexual response cycle and having the necessary skills to make a delightful sexual relationship were explored as the dimensions of definition of women’s sexual self-efficacy. Questionnaires were prepared with 24 items. The content validity index and content validity ratio (CVI and CVR) were found as 0.92 and 0.84, respectively. The results of qualitative and quantitative face validity and criterion validity were acceptable. Construct validity through exploratory factor analysis led to identifying four factors explained 66.68% of the variance. The items of the questionnaire were reduced from 24 to 21 after construct validity. The results of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.94) and ICC (0.50) supported the acceptable stability of the questionnaire. Conclusion: The psychometric properties of developed sexual self-efficacy questionnairewomen (SSEQ-W) has good validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be used as a useful tool in future studies.