Development of a Quality of Sexual Life Questionnaire for Breast Cancer Survivors in Mainland China
Li-wei Jing, Chao Zhang, Feng Jin, Ai-ping Wang
Department of Nursing, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China (mainland)
Med Sci Monit 2018; 24: CLR4101-4112
DOI: 10.12659/MSM.906666
Available online: 2018-06-16
Published: 2018-06-16

BACKGROUND:
There is a great need for a quality of sexual life questionnaire (QVS) in breast cancer survivors (BCSs) based on the Chinese social culture since the imported tools lack localization verification.
To develop a QVS in BCSs and determine its validity and reliability.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
In the qualitative study, a total of 21 BCSs were interviewed by purposive sampling and snowball sampling; and in the quantitative study, a total of 249 BCSs, who were admitted and received outpatient follow-up, were investigated. Regarding construct validity, factor analysis was performed. The female sexual function index (FSFI), self-rating depression scale (SDS), and Locke-Wallace marital adjustment test (LWMAT) were used to evaluate criterion validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used as an index of internal consistency. To evaluate test-retest reliability, 50 patients were re-evaluated after 1 week.
RESULTS:
We put 28 items in the factor analysis model: (1) 5 factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (EFA), with a cumulative contribution of 60.37%; (2) the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the path coefficients among the factors were all above 0.5, and the standardized load coefficients of the most items were above 0.5; (3) the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.929 for the overall questionnaire, and ranged from 0.571 to 0.869 for the 5 factors; (4) the correlation coefficients between the overall questionnaire and the FSFI, SDS, and LWMAT were 0.582, –0.456 and 0.515, respectively (P<0.01); and (5) the test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.816, and the split-half-reliability coefficient was 0.899.
CONCLUSIONS:
The QVS in BCSs has good reliability and validity, and can be used to assess the quality of sexual life among BCSs in Mainland China.
Keywords: Reproducibility of Results, Sexual Behavior, Survivors