Developing and Accessing Validity and Reliability of the Persian Versions of Three Instruments Measuring Risky Sexual Behaviors

Abstract

Objectives: There are a few instruments available to assess sexual issues in Persian according to indigenous culture. This study aims to translate three instruments of Sexual Addiction Screening Test – Revised (SAST-R), Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) and sexual behavior subscale of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), and evaluate their psychometric parameters. Methods: After translating the selected instruments into Persian, a group of psychiatrists evaluated its content validity. The final versions were distributed among 92 participants (45 men and 47 women) selected from among the companions of patients referred to the clinics of Iran Psychiatric Hospital. Then, the factor structure and internal consistency of them were assessed. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for Persian versions of SAST-R, SRS and sexual behavior subscale of YRBSS was obtained 0.878, 0.869 and 0.511, respectively. The factor analysis extracted 12 factors for the SAST-R explaining 71.4% of the variances, 5 factors for the SRS explaining 76.2%b of the variances, and 2 factors for the sexual behavior subscale explaining 56.7% of the variances. Conclusion: Persian version of the SAST-R has high internal consistency with a complex factor structure. The Persian version of SRS has high internal consistency with a well-defined factor structure, while the sexual behavior subscale of YRBSS has a good factor structure with a moderate internal consistency. These instruments can be used on Iranian population. Further studies are recommended to evaluate their construct validity and reliability.