Sexual concerns among kidney transplant recipients: Instrument development

Problems with sexuality are common after kidney transplant (KTx) and can negatively impact quality of life. Yet little is known about the specific sexual concerns experienced by KTx recipients and no instrument to measure them exists. Thus, the purposes of this study were to examine the psychometric properties of the Sexual Concerns Questionnaire (SCQ) and to describe the sexual concerns of KTx recipients. The specific aims of this study were to: examine the construct validity of the SCQ, assess the measurement structure of the SCQ, examine the reliability of the SCQ, and describe the sexual concerns of KTx recipients.;Participants were 391 KTx recipients. The majority of respondents were male (58.3%), Caucasian (85.3%), and sexually active (71.4%). Construct validity of the SCQ was supported by factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a seven factor solution. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated adequate model fit of this solution. Further testing indicated that the SCQ has evidence for configural and weak invariance by the subgroups gender, dialysis history, relationship status, and transplant type. However, MIMIC modeling revealed that each subgroup has some non-invariance in one or more subscales. Construct validity was further supported by testing hypothesized relationships with the SCQ and quality of life, sexual depression, and relationship satisfaction. As hypothesized, higher levels of sexual concern were associated with lower quality of life, higher sexual depression, and lower relationship satisfaction.;Internal consistency for the SCQ was 0.87 and composite reliability of the SCQ subscales ranged from 0.74–0.91. Stability of the SCQ subscales was tested at two weeks and at three to four weeks and the coefficients of stability ranged from 0.37–0.92 and 0.56–0.88, respectively. The KTx recipients reported communication with their healthcare providers and sexual pleasure as their top two concerns.;Contributions of this dissertation include a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure the sexual concerns of KTx recipients and knowledge of new areas of sexual concerns that had never before been carefully examined. In addition, the results indicate that healthcare providers need to address sexual concerns with their patients.