Development and Validation of a Psycho-Sexual Inventory for Cancer Patients

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Psychology
• Sexual Health

Background:

• Cancer significantly impacts patients' quality of life, affecting physical, psychosocial, and emotional well-being.
• Intimacy issues and sexual dysfunction are common challenges faced by cancer patients and their partners.
• A validated tool is needed to comprehensively assess psychosexual disability in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a psychometric instrument for assessing psychosexual disability in cancer patients.
• To identify key domains contributing to psychosexual challenges in individuals with cancer.
• To create a reliable and valid inventory for clinical and research use.

Main Methods:

• Initial development involved an open-ended questionnaire with 100 cancer patients to identify relevant domains.
• A 148-item draft tool was administered to 500 subjects, followed by item reduction based on statistical analysis.
• Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and construct validity was evaluated through principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

Main Results:

• A 47-item Psycho-Sexual Inventory (PSI) was finalized, encompassing five subscales: spouse/partner, psychological, sexual, spirituality, and pain.
• The inventory demonstrated high internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.917.
• Factor analysis confirmed the distinctness of the five subscales, indicating good construct validity.

Conclusions:

• The Psycho-Sexual Inventory (PSI) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing psychosexual disability in cancer patients.
• The PSI demonstrates strong face, content, and construct validity.
• Future research will focus on establishing predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity of the PSI.