(100) Deep and Superficial Dyspareunia Questionnaire (DSDQ): Test–Retest Reliability, Discriminant Validity, and Convergent Validity

Abstract Introduction Dyspareunia affects between 8–22% of girls, women, and gender-diverse people worldwide and is a significant contributor to reduced quality of life and poor mental health. The Deep and Superficial Dyspareunia Questionnaire (DSDQ) is a patient-reported outcome measure that was previously developed to capture symptoms of deep and superficial dyspareunia independently, as well as their psychosocial correlates. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the DSDQ in a dyspareunia population. Objective The goal of this study was to explore psychometric properties of the DSDQ and establish its test–retest reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent validity. Methods Participants completed two surveys that were administered one week apart. The first survey (T1) consisted of the DSDQ, pre-existing instruments measuring latent constructs different from the DSDQ, and pre-existing instruments measuring similar latent constructs corresponding to each of the 6 subscales in the DSDQ. The second survey (T2) consisted of the DSDQ only. Test–retest reliability was evaluated both visually using histograms and numerically using Spearman’s correlations. Non-parametric Spearman’s correlation analyses were conducted to evaluate discriminant validity and convergent validity by assessing the strength and direction of the relationship between the pre-existing measures and each subscale of the DSDQ. Results The frequency distributions of test and retest scores for each of the 6 subscales of the DSDQ demonstrated no obvious visual difference in terms of leftward, rightward, outward, or inward shift or scaling, suggesting stability of measurements over time. For test–retest reliability, there were strong positive correlations between r = 0.67 and r = 0.89 across DSDQ subscales. All subscales of the DSDQ were found to have little to very weak correlations with the pre-existing instruments measuring different latent constructs, with the highest correlation detected at r = 0.39. Moderately strong correlations (between r = 0.65 and r = 0.83) were evident between Factor 1 through Factor 5 and the corresponding pre-existing scales measuring similar latent constructs. Factor 6 on the DSDQ demonstrated a weak correlation (r = 0.27) with a pre-existing measure of pain self-efficacy in a chronic pain context, indicating that the two tools measured different latent constructs. Conclusions Our study established the DSDQ’s test–retest reliability and discriminant validity, as well as convergent validity for 5 of 6 DSDQ factors. This psychometric evaluation supports the use of the DSDQ in clinical and research settings. The DSDQ offers a valid and reliable tool to standardize phenotyping of dyspareunia and measure changes in dyspareunia over time. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Pelva Health, Initiator Pharmacy, SPM therapeutics.