Development and Validation of Turkish Version of The Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised

The sexually related personal distress becomes an obligation for the diagnosis of female sexual dysfunction (FSD). The Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (FSDS-R) was developed, extensively validated, and is among the most widely used tools to measure distress associated with impaired sexual function.

This study aims to develop a Turkish version of the FSDS-R, to evaluate its psychometric reliability and validity, and to estimate the optimal cutoff score that corresponds best to the clinical diagnosis of sexual dysfunction.

Ninety-five participants were diagnosed with female sexual interest and arousal disorder (FSIAD), 25 participants were diagnosed with another FSD, and 128 participants were healthy. Alpha coefficients (α) were used as an indicator of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability over a 2-week period was estimated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Correlation analysis conducted between the FSDS-R total score, the Female Sexual Function Index subscale, and total score was examined for convergent validity. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing mean scores of the FSD and control groups in a between-groups analysis of variance. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine optimal cutoff values of the Turkish version of Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (Tr-FSDS-R).

Sexuality-related distress measured by the Turkish version of the FSDS-R.

Internal consistencies of the FSDS-R across the two assessments point for the three groups of women ranged from α = 0.87 to α = 0.99. ICCs ranged from 0.92 to 0.94 for baseline and day 15 for FSIAD, other FSD, and no FSD groups. One-factor unidimensional model explained 85.7% of the total variance of the Tr-FSDS-R items. The optimal cutoff score was found to be >11.5 to provide optimal sensitivity (97.9%) and specificity (83.2%). Significant differences in the FSDS-R scores were found between healthy women, women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and women with other types of FSD.

The Turkish version of FSDS-R is a valid, reliable tool with well discriminative and psychometric validity for use in the Turkish female population and can be used as a screening questionnaire for females with sexual interest/arousal disorder. The score of ≥11.5 was proposed as a cutoff to detect the presence of sexually related personal distress in Turkish women with FSD.