Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the postpartum sexual life quality scale.

Purpose

The aim of this study is to establish the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Postpartum Sexual Life Quality Scale (PSLQS), which evaluates the sexual life quality of women in the postpartum period, and to introduce it to Turkish society.

Materials and methods

Data for this methodological study were collected between March 2022 and March 2023. The population of the study consisted of women in the postpartum period who presented to a hospital in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, and the sample of the study included 284 women. The data collection instruments included a personal information form and the Postpartum Sexual Life Quality Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and IBM AMOS V24 package programs.

Results

The Turkish adaptation of the scale was evaluated for linguistic and content validity, construct validity, and reliability. The content validity index of the scale was found to be above 0.80. The fit indices obtained from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were as follows: CMIN/DF (χ²/df) = 2.053, GFI = 0.888, IFI = 0.928, TLI = 0.914, CFI = 0.927, RMSEA = 0.061, SRMR = 0.060. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.849, and for its subscales, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were as follows: Sexual beliefs 0.745, Sexual performance 0.803, Marital life in the context of parenthood 0.851, Postpartum psychological changes 0.829, and Postpartum sexual changes 0.806. Item-total score correlations for the scale items ranged from 0.215 to 0.736.

Conclusion

The study concluded that the Turkish adaptation of PSLQS is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used in Turkish society.