An Exploratory Mixed Method Study for Developing and Psychometric Properties of the Sexual Information, Motivation and Behavioral Skills Scale (SIMBS) in Iranian Couples

Background: This study was designed to construct and assay the psychometric properties of a scale in order to recognize sexual information, motivation and behavioral skills of Iranian couples. Study design: a mixed method study. Methods: This was an exploratory mixed method investigation conducted in two stages from Sep 2017 to Jun 2018 in Isfahan, Iran. First, qualitative methods (individual interviews with 22 couples) were applied to generate items and develop the questionnaire. Second, psychometric properties of the questionnaire were assessed. Reliability was evaluated by composite reliability, Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and internal consistency. Moreover, Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) were carried out to examine construct validity. To evaluate content validity were performed CVI and CVR. Results: An item pool comprising 107 statements related to couple 'sexual information, motivation and behavioral skills were generated in the first stage. In the second stage, item reduction was exerted and the final issue of the questionnaire including 51 items was expanded. The evaluation of the psychometric properties of the final version displayed that the scale had good reliability and structure. The results from exploratory factory analysis demonstrated a 9-factor solution for the scale that jointly reported for the 39.5% of the observed variance. The mean scores of the CVI and CVR were 0.92 and 0.90, respectively. Additional analyses indicated acceptable results for composite reliability for the subscale of instrument ranging from 0.78 to 0.95. Conclusion: The sexual information, motivation and behavioral skills scale is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used in future studies on Iranian couples.