The Semi‐Structured Clinical Interview for the Assessment of Compulsive Sexual Behavior (SSCI‐CSB): Development, Reliability, and Validity

Objectives The assessment of Compulsive Sexual Behavior (CSB) requires fine‐grained assessment approaches, ideally through clinical interviews. However, none of the few available clinical interviews for CSB have demonstrated strong psychometric properties. To address this limitation, we developed the Semi‐Structured Clinical Interview for the assessment of CSB (SSCI‐CSB), an interview that gathers information on the manifestations, symptoms, and clinical course of CSB. The aim of this study was to examine its reliability and validity in a sample of patients seeking treatment for out‐of‐control sexual behavior. Methods The SSCI‐CSB was administered as a routine assessment to a sample of 85 patients (81 men, four women) seeking outpatient treatment for CSB in two moments: at an initial screening ( n = 85) and after 3 months ( n = 22). Results Of the 16 CSB criteria assessed by the SSCI‐CSB, four were endorsed by < 40% of the participants. Internal consistency was excellent (α = 0.95; ω = 0.97). Similarly, test‐retest reliability was high ( r of 0.882 and Kappa in the range of fair‐to‐almost‐perfect agreement). The SSCI‐CSB showed more specificity/positive predictive value than sensitivity/negative predictive value. Conclusion The SSCI‐CSB may be an appropriate assessment tool to assess and diagnose CSB in the round in patients seeking treatment for out‐of‐control sexual behaviors.