Abstract
Purpose; To identify the important issues which have an impact on the quality of life (QoL) of men suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) and to generate a new ED-specific QoL questionnaire ready to undergo further psychometric testing. Methods: QoL issues relating to ED were generated through in-depth quali-tative interviews of 29 patients, literature review and consultation with other healthcare professionals. The issues were formulated into a questionnaire, which was piloted using 40 patients with ED and subsequently refined using well-established principles of questionnaire development. Results: The qualitative interviews revealed numerous psychosocial problems associated with ED, which were operationalised into a 40-item questionnaire. Pilot testing allowed the questionnaire to be reduced to a manageable 15-item final questionnaire while maintaining face and content validity and the potential to discriminate between men with varying degrees of affected QoL. This questionnaire had a Cronbach's α of 0.94. Conclusions: A new ED-specific QoL measure has been developed using appropriate methodology. Qualitative techniques identified a range of psychosocial morbidity in men with ED, leading to a simple but robust instrument with face and content validity. This questionnaire, Erectile Dysfunction - Effect on quality of life (ED-EQoL), has now undergone psychometric testing for validity and reliability.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 361-368 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Quality of Life Research |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2004 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Erectile dysfunction
- Qualitative methodology
- Quality of life