A tool to assess sex-gender when selecting health research projects

To validate the questionnaire "Gender Perspective in Health Research" (GPIHR) to assess the inclusion of gender perspective in research projects.

Validation study in two stages. Feasibility was analysed in the first, and reliability, internal consistence and validity in the second.

Aragón Institute of Health Science, Aragón, Spain.

GPIHR was applied to 118 research projects funded in national and international competitive tenders from 2003 to 2012.

Analysis of inter- and intra-observer reliability with Kappa index and internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha. Content validity analysed through literature review and construct validity with an exploratory factor analysis.

Validated GPIHR has 10 questions: 3 in the introduction, 1 for objectives, 3 for methodology and 3 for research purpose. Average time of application was 13min Inter-observer reliability (Kappa) varied between 0.35 and 0.94 and intra-observer between 0.40 and 0.94. Theoretical construct is supported in the literature. Factor analysis identifies three levels of GP inclusion: "difference by sex", "gender sensitive" and "feminist research" with an internal consistency of 0.64, 0.87 and 0.81, respectively, which explain 74.78% of variance.

GPIHR questionnaire is a valid tool to assess GP and useful for those researchers who would like to include GP in their projects.