Norwegian Translation and Validation of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire-IUGA Revised (PISQ-IR).

INTRODUCTION

The Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire-IUGA revised (PISQ-IR) measures sexual function in women with pelvic floor dysfunctions (PFD). The aim of this study was to translate the PISQ-IR to Norwegian and to assess its psychometric properties.

METHODS

The instrument was translated and reviewed through cognitive interviews with women from the target group and multidisciplinary clinical experts to establish face/content validity and cultural equivalence. Thereafter, a cross-sectional study of women with PFD from two Norwegian University hospitals was conducted. Floor and ceiling effects and internal consistency were calculated for all subscales. Construct validity was assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and by testing 19 theoretically derived hypotheses.

RESULTS

Of 157 respondents, 111 (71%) women considered themselves sexually active (SA) and 46 (29%) non-sexually active (NSA). Item nonresponse rate varied from 4 to 36% in the subscales. For the NSA subscales, both floor and ceiling effect was detected. EFA mainly supported the original structure for both the SA and NSA subscales, although not completely consistent and with many cross-loadings. Unidimensional factors were assessed and confirmed the presence of one factor within all subscales for SA women and three for NSA women (except NSA-PR). Construct validity confirmed 16 of the 19 predefined hypotheses (84%). All subscales exhibited good internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

The Norwegian PISQ-IR demonstrated good face/content validity, internal consistency and construct validity, and can be used to assess sexual function among sexually active women with PFD. A small sample size of NSA women precludes drawing firm conclusions regarding structural validity for NSA subscales.