Sánchez Sánchez B1, Navarro Brazález B1, Sánchez Méndez Ó2, de la Rosa Díaz I2, Arranz Martín B1, Torres Lacomba M1
1Alcalá University, Physiotherapy Departament, Alcalá de Henares, Spain, 2Alcalá University, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Background: Sexual health is recognized by the World Health Organization as the complete well-being state related to sexuality, including physical, emotional, mental, and social welfare. Different studies have found that sexual complaints are common among women with pelvic floor disorders (PFD). In fact, 25 - 50% of women who seek treatment for PFD report an impairment in sexual function. The evaluation of sexual function is important, specially in these women.
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) is a specific questionnaire that has been regarded as the de facto “gold standard” to evaluate the sexual health in female population. FSFI was developed by Rosen et al. in 2000, and it is a 19-item multidimensional self-reporting measure that quantified female sexual dysfunction in six domains.
It is widely argued that outcome measures should be valid, reliable and responsive or sensitive to change. Responsiveness is the ability to detect changes that occur as a result of therapy or disease progression and has been suggested as one criterion to choose among scales. Adequate responsiveness is an essential psychometric property for any questionnaire.
Purpose: To evaluate the responsiveness of the Spanish version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), in order to assess the sexual function in Spanish women with pelvic floor disorders.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study to assess the responsiveness in women with PFD who carried out a physical therapy treatment for pelvic floor during 8 weeks. The FSFI Spanish version was completed before and after physical therapy intervention. In order to evaluate responsiveness, three methods were used: the p values generated using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the effect size (ES), and the standardized response means for the change (SRM) in scores from pre- and post-physical therapy.
Results: A total of 92 women were recruited with a mean age of 50 (6). About the ES and SRM, they showed moderate to good in the FSFI dimensions, the lowest value being in the desire dimension (ES 0.69 and SRM 0.58; p 0.001) and the highest in the pain dimension (ES 1.05 and SRM 1.01; p 0.001). Regarding the ES and SRM of the total FSFI, both values showed excellent responsiveness (ES 1.24 and SRM 1.11; p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The FSFI Spanish version showed good responsiveness to evaluate the sexual function in Spanish women with PFD undergoing physical therapy treatment.
Implications: The evaluation of sexual function in women is an important outcome in Gynaecology physical therapy. The FSFI is the most widely used questionnaire to evaluate the sexual health in female population. The responsiveness is a fundamental psychometric characteristic that should be assessed in the instruments. Assessment of responsiveness is of particular value to the clinician, since it can be an indicator of the value of a therapeutic intervention, the need for treatment change and, in general, the degree of satisfaction of the subject to treatment. So, to assess the responsiveness of the Spanish version of FSFI is essential to have a questionnaire para to evaluate the efficacy of the physical therapy intervention in Spain.
Keywords: sexual dysfunction, FSFI, responsiveness
Funding acknowledgements: The work was unfunded.
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) is a specific questionnaire that has been regarded as the de facto “gold standard” to evaluate the sexual health in female population. FSFI was developed by Rosen et al. in 2000, and it is a 19-item multidimensional self-reporting measure that quantified female sexual dysfunction in six domains.
It is widely argued that outcome measures should be valid, reliable and responsive or sensitive to change. Responsiveness is the ability to detect changes that occur as a result of therapy or disease progression and has been suggested as one criterion to choose among scales. Adequate responsiveness is an essential psychometric property for any questionnaire.
Purpose: To evaluate the responsiveness of the Spanish version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), in order to assess the sexual function in Spanish women with pelvic floor disorders.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study to assess the responsiveness in women with PFD who carried out a physical therapy treatment for pelvic floor during 8 weeks. The FSFI Spanish version was completed before and after physical therapy intervention. In order to evaluate responsiveness, three methods were used: the p values generated using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the effect size (ES), and the standardized response means for the change (SRM) in scores from pre- and post-physical therapy.
Results: A total of 92 women were recruited with a mean age of 50 (6). About the ES and SRM, they showed moderate to good in the FSFI dimensions, the lowest value being in the desire dimension (ES 0.69 and SRM 0.58; p 0.001) and the highest in the pain dimension (ES 1.05 and SRM 1.01; p 0.001). Regarding the ES and SRM of the total FSFI, both values showed excellent responsiveness (ES 1.24 and SRM 1.11; p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The FSFI Spanish version showed good responsiveness to evaluate the sexual function in Spanish women with PFD undergoing physical therapy treatment.
Implications: The evaluation of sexual function in women is an important outcome in Gynaecology physical therapy. The FSFI is the most widely used questionnaire to evaluate the sexual health in female population. The responsiveness is a fundamental psychometric characteristic that should be assessed in the instruments. Assessment of responsiveness is of particular value to the clinician, since it can be an indicator of the value of a therapeutic intervention, the need for treatment change and, in general, the degree of satisfaction of the subject to treatment. So, to assess the responsiveness of the Spanish version of FSFI is essential to have a questionnaire para to evaluate the efficacy of the physical therapy intervention in Spain.
Keywords: sexual dysfunction, FSFI, responsiveness
Funding acknowledgements: The work was unfunded.
Topic: Women's & men's pelvic health
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital
Ethics committee: Clinical Research Ethics Committee in Alcalá de Henares
Ethics number: OE21/2013
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
