Sexual Dysfunction Questionnaire: scale development and psychometric validation Questionario sulle Disfunzioni Sessuali: sviluppo e validazione psicometrica della scala

Objective Sexual activity is an important dimension within quality of life. The fundamental psychological needs of an individual are represented by four psychodynamic factors: attachment, autonomy, sexual identity, and self-esteem. Sexual disorders are common in psychiatric patients and include desire, arousal, orgasmic, and pain disorders. Along with the positive aspects of human sexuality, however, mental illnesses can also affect an individual’s sexual health. We believe that this area of research lacks standard tools to highlight the presence of sexual problems and the associated personality traits in psychiatric patients (men and women). For these reasons, we developed a brief, practical, and simple selfreported questionnaire that would address most of the common sexual problems in psychiatric patients.