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

Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jan 28;10(2):255. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10020255.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: cultural adaptation; linguistic validation; nursing students; psychometrics; validation studies.