Objective: Sexual dysfunction is frequently associated with depression and is often exacerbated by antidepressant treatment. The true prevalence of antidepressant minduced dysfunction during a major depressive episode is generally underreported, due to reliance on spontaneous self-report data and the reluctance of physicians to use standardized rating scales. The aim of this study is to validate the Sex Effects scale (SexFX) in a healthy population, addressing internal and inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and divergent validity.
Materials and methods: The SexFX is a 13-item scale that assesses severity of sexual dysfunction across the domains of desire, arousal, and orgasm based on the frequency of behaviour. Healthy participants (N = 53) had the SexFX and Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire (CSFQ) administered at two timepoints, two weeks apart.
Results: The Cronbach's a was 0.91 and 0.93 for the male and female scales, respectively, and inter-rater reliability was very high with ICCs of 0.99 for both the male and female scales. Concurrent validity with the CSFQ was adequate.
Conclusion: The SexFX demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, providing the results necessary to proceed with further validation trials.