[Design and validation of the questionnaire on Women's Sexual Function (WSF)].

OBJECTIVE

To design and validate a self-administered questionnaire to evaluate sexual function in women.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, multi-centre study.

SETTING

Primary care, in 9 health centres of the Community of Valencia.

PARTICIPANTS

Women not at risk of sexual dysfunction, selected by consecutive sampling. Initial sample 600, valid sample 212.

INTERVENTIONS

Questionnaire of 14 questions to be filled out in 5-10 minutes, designed by a committee of experts. The participants filled it out on two occasions (test and retest) with an interval of 4 weeks. Diagnostic assessment by a committee of observers.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

Reliability between test and retest questions: - One to one: analysis of concordance: kappa index. Significant variations: 2 goodness of fit. - On the sum of replies: comparison of means (Wilcoxon) and subsequent analysis: intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha. Validity of contents: consensus of experts. Inter-observer correlation: ICC and factor analysis.

RESULTS

Reliability: one to one: Kappa from 0.597 to 0.743. 2 not significant (ns). Between total sums (Wilcoxon), ns (z=-0.312, P=.755) (95% confidence). ICC: r=0.9587 (95% CI, 0.9460-0.9685), significant correlation (99% confidence). Internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha test: 0.8954, retest: 0.8973. Inter-observer correlation: ICC: r=0.9498 (CI, 0.9386-0.9611) significant (confidence 99%). Factor analysis: groupings of items 9, 13, 14; 1, 2, 3, 10; 5, 6, 7, 8.

CONCLUSIONS

The questionnaire is stable, valid and reliable. It evaluates the stages of sexual response, initiative and degree of sexual communication. It collects data on sexual performance. It is useful for exploring and diagnosing sexual dysfunction.