Background: Sexual dysfunction is frequently observed among individuals with mental illnesses and is usually not given due importance in routine clinical practice. Existing rating scales are limited by narrow domain coverage, a lack of proper quantification, complex language, and poor cultural adaptability, particularly in the Indian context. Hence, there is a need for a comprehensive and culturally sensitive instrument to assess sexual dysfunction, including medication-related problems in the Indian context. Aim: To develop a new scale for the assessment of sexual dysfunction and establish its face and content validity. Method: The study was conducted in three phases at a tertiary care hospital. In Phase I, expert discussions identified core domains relevant to sexual functioning. In Phase II, items were generated through literature review and focused group discussions, followed by translation, back-translation, and linguistic simplification into English and Hindi. In Phase III, 16 mental health professionals initially evaluated the preliminary version for subjective content validity. This was followed by an evaluation of face validity among 20 sexually active participants, and 11 psychiatrists evaluated the content validity. Results: The final scale comprised 38 items for males and 34 items for females, covering six domains: availability of safe space for sexual activity, sexual encounter(s), sexual functioning, change in sexual practices with onset of illness and starting medications, sexual inquiry in doctor-patient interaction, and sexual functioning during the ongoing medications. Most items demonstrated high face validity (item impact score >1.5) and satisfactory content validity (CVR ≥ 0.59 for 30 items). Conclusion: The newly developed scale showed strong face and content validity and appears suitable for assessing sexual dysfunction in psychiatric populations. Further studies are warranted to evaluate its test-retest reliability, and clinical applicability.
Grover et al. (Thu,) studied this question.