ASOCIACIÓN ESPAÑOLA DE
SEXUALIDAD Y SALUD MENTAL

PRSEXDQ-SALSEX: Psychotropic-Related Sexual Dysfunction Questionnaire.

Description and Instructions for Rater. (1)

 

The PRSexDQ (also known as SALSEX) is a brief, multilingual, hetero-applied questionnaire for males and females. It has 2 introductory items (A and B) and other 5 items pertaining to Sexual Dysfunction (SD). It explores different aspect of sexual dysfunction after the onset of any psychotropic treatment and the tolerability after these sexual changes for patients as well.
A.-The item A is a screening item to assess whether the patient has any sort of sexual dysfunction (SD) since the beginning of the treatment.
B.- The second item B assesses whether the patient has spontaneously reported any SD to the rater.
The next 5 items (items 1-5) assess five dimensions of SD according to either severity or frequency:
1. Loss of libido (0 = nil, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe),
2. Delayed orgasm or ejaculation (0 = nil, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe),
3. Lack of orgasm or ejaculation (0 = never, 1 = occasionally, 2 = often, 3 = always),
4. Arousal Dysfunction: erectile dysfunction in men or vaginal lubrication dysfunction in women (0 = never, 1 = occasionally, 2 = often, 3 = always),
5. Patient’s acceptability of the SD (0 = no sexual dysfunction, 1 = good, 2 = fair and 3 = poor, with high risk of drop-out).

Duration: Brief, no more than 5 minutes
Versions: Same version for males/females with specific sex differentiation in each question of item.

General Instructions:
It was validated to be hetero-applied and the interviewer only has to follow the questions as they are written in the text. Self-applied forms could also be used but its validation is undergoing.
• The first question should be a general one about tolerability of the undergoing treatment as follows: ¿Did you experience any adverse event since the beginning of the treatment?. This question is essential to determine if sexual dysfunction is spontaneously communicated or no (Item B)
• PRSexDQ shouldn’t be applied in the case of absence of sexual activity since the beginning of the treatment due to lack of reliability in this case and to avoid false negatives.
• All items should be explored consecutively clarifying all doubts that patients could have about the meaning of each one.
• In case of any doubts in the score of any items, the interviewer should select the upper one.

Total Store: 0 (no sexual dysfunction) to 15 (greatest sexual dysfunction)
Only items 1 through 5 are considered for the total score of the PRSexDQ . Total score ranges from
0 to 15. MILD: 0-5 (with no item =2); MODERATE: 6-10 (OR any item =2, with no item =3) SEVERE:
11-15 (OR any item =3)*

Validation.
PRSexDQ was validated for Depression (2000) and for Schizophrenia and other Psychosis (2008)
1. - Depression: The questionnaire has shown excellent feasibility and internal reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93. It has also shown a good convergent and discriminant validity as well as being sensitive for detecting changes in sexual function. In addition, a Clinical Global Impression (CGI) of sexual functioning was used. This CGI of sexual functioning (CGI-SF) is an ad-hoc clinicianrated instrument that is identical to the CGI used for the assessment of clinical state and improvement (Guy, 1976). As such, the severity of sexual dysfunction is rated in a seven-point subscale (1 = normal, 7 = among the most severely ill) and global improvement of sexual function is also rated in a second seven-point subscale (from 1= very much improved, to 7= very much worse).

 

2. - For Schizophrenia and other Psychosis PRSexDQ showed adequate psychometric properties.
Montejo et al J Sex Marital Therapy 2008.

______________________________________________________________________

(1) Montejo, Al.; Garcia,, M.; Espada, M., Rico-Villademoros, F; Llorca, G.,;Izquierdo, J.A. Et Al. Propiedades psicométricas del Cuestionario de Disfunción Sexual Secundaria a Psicofármacos. Actas Esp Psiquiatr 2000, 28,3:141-150
____________________

REFERENCES:

1) Montejo AL, García M, Espada M, Rico-Villademoros F, Llorca G, Izquierdo JA.[Psychometric characteristics of the psychotropicrelated
sexual dysfunction questionnaire. Spanish work group for the study of psychotropic-related sexual dysfunctions].Actas Esp
Psiquiatr. 2000 May-Jun;28(3):141-50
2) Montejo AL, Rico-Villademoros F. Psychometric properties of the Psychotropic-Related Sexual Dysfunction Questionnaire

(PRSexDQ-SALSEX) in patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. J Sex Marital Ther. 2008;34(3):227-39

 

© Asociaciación Española de Sexualidad y Salud Mental (AESEXSAME)