A Systematic Review of Sexual Distress Measures.

BACKGROUND: Sexual distress is an important component of sexual dysfunction and quality of life and many different measures have been developed for its assessment.

AIM: To conduct a literature review of measures for assessing sexual distress and to list, compare, and highlight their characteristics and psychometric properties.

METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using Scopus and PubMed databases to identify studies that developed and validated measures of sexual distress. The main characteristics and psychometric properties of each measure were extracted and examined.

OUTCOMES: Psychometrically validated measures of sexual distress and a summary of relative strengths and limitations.

RESULTS: We found 17 different measures for the assessment of sexual distress. 4 were standalone questionnaires and 13 were subscales included in questionnaires that assessed broader constructs. Although 5 measures were developed to assess sexual distress in the general population, most were developed and validated in very specific clinical groups. Most followed adequate steps in the development and validation process and have strong psychometric properties; however, several limitations were identified.

CLINICAL TRANSLATION: This literature review offers researchers and clinicians a list of sexual distress measures and relevant characteristics that can be used to select the best assessment tool for their objectives.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: A thorough search procedure was used; however, there is still a chance that relevant articles might have been missed owing to our search methodology and inclusion criteria.

CONCLUSION: This is a novel and state-of-the-art review of assessment tools for sexual distress that includes valuable information measure selection in the study of sexual distress and sexual dysfunction. Santos-Iglesias P, Mohamed B, Walker LM. A Systematic Review of Sexual Distress Measures. J Sex Med 2018;15:625-644.