Abstract

Introduction: Sexual dysfunctions are a frequent condi- tion that affects women’s quality of life. Their estimated prevalence goes from 25% to 60%, depending on the measuring instrument and the studied population. Their impact on the quality of life, and especially on female sexuality, is not usually considered as a measuring instru- ment, and there is no reliable instrument for evaluating it in Chile. “Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire - Female” (SQOL-F) is an instrument that has been validated in England, the United States of America, and Iran, and evaluates the relation between sexual dysfunctions and quality of life. Objective: To analyze the structure and reliability of the tool for measuring sexual quality of life, “SQOL-F”, in women from the Province of Concepción, Chile. Methods: The questionnaire was translated following the model proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). 486 students from two universities (one public, the other private) in the city of Concepción, Chile, filled in a sociodemographic questionnaire and the SQOL-F. 344 of them met the requirements: being healthy, older than 18 years old, and having had sexual activity recently. The latter is defined as any sexual activity done in the three months previous to taking the questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done, evaluating pertinence, number of factors, and factorial structure. Factor reliability was evaluated, too, with Cronbach’s α. Stata SE 11 was used to process the data. This study was approved by the local Ethics Committee. Results: Average age was 21 years old (18-36). 91.8% was single, 5.81% had children, and 93.3% identified as heterosexual. A first exploratory factor analysis was done, showing that item 7 was not necessary. Then, the analysis was repeated with the remaining 17 items. Cattell, Kaiser-Guttman, and Horn criteria coincided in two factors, which, according to the configuration ma- trix, were classified as sex life satisfaction and sexual self-esteem. These factors showed an excellent reliabil- ity, according to the classification by George and Mallery (Cronbach’s α: 0.83 and 0.77, respectively), and had a very high item discrimination ability. Conclusions: The construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire show evidence to consider it as adequate for measuring sexual satisfaction in adult Chilean wom- en. Nonetheless, further testing of its validity with a confirmatory factor analysis and other types of reliabil- ity, such as its temporal stability, would be preferable, as it is done for all psychometric studies