Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQoL-F): Cultural Adaptation and Validation of European Portuguese Version

The Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQoL-F) questionnaire was developed with qualitative data to assess the impact of sexual dysfunction in women. Objectives: the aim was to conduct a cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric analysis of a European Portuguese version of the Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire. Methods: Methodological study of the processes of translation and cultural adaptation. This is a retrospective study in which nursing students participated. Data collection: Lime Survey platform in a convenience sample was carried out in two stages, the latter being re-testing data. The instrument analysed, presented as a latent variable, consisted of 18 items on a Likert scale. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. Participants: the sample was 113 women, mean age 21.99 years (+/- 3.76), attending classes in the first 4 years of the first cycle of nursing. Results: Reliability was analysed and stability was found in the test-retest (rs = 0.658) and in the intraclass coefficient (rs = 0.821). The internal consistency analysis showed an alpha value of 0.846. Discriminant validity analysis using the Mann-Whitney test revealed a higher score of the quality of sexual life of students living with parents/surrogates. Factor validity analysis was conducted using Oblimin rotation with four-, three- and two-factor tests. Parallel analysis of the empirical matrix compared to the random matrix showed that the instrument was unidimensional. Conclusions: the assessment of the properties of the SQoL-F is valuable, as the provision of a valid and reliable instrument contributes to the quality of subsequent studies, including for local and multicentre research.

Automated summary

This study conducted a cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric analysis of a European Portuguese version of the Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire. The results showed that the questionnaire had good reliability and validity, and can be used to assess the impact of sexual dysfunction on the quality of life in women.