title: Evaluation of a short scale to assess female sexual functioning.
abstract: This article provides information on the external and concurrent validity, test-retest reliability, and sensitivity to change of a short form of the Personal Experiences Questionnaire, which was adapted from the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire. We drew participants from convenience samples of women attending three different clinic settings: family planning clinics, psychiatrists, and sex therapists. We chose the psychiatry and sex therapy clinics as samples likely to show poor sexual functioning in order to assist with external validity assessment and to establish a cut-off score indicating sexual dysfunction. Satisfactory external criterion validity, concurrent validity, reliability on re-test, and validation of the composite score were demonstrated. A cut-off score of 7 or below distinguishes with 79% specificity and sensitivity those with sexual dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Office for Gender and Health, Department of Psychiatry, 6th Floor, Charles Connibere Building, University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Vic. 3050, Australia. ldenn@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dennerstein
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anderson-Hunt
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dudley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*