OBJECTIVES

In HIV population, sexual problems are frequent, ranging from 25% to 71% in different studies. To verify the properties of Male Sexual Health Questionnaire (MSHQ) for assessment of sexual quality of life among HIV and HCV male patients, 752 men with HIV and/or HCV, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France and the US, have been included in a cohort study. The MSHQ has been previously validated in English, in aging men with prostatic problems.

METHODS

Patients living with HIV and/or HCV, from 5 countries completed the survey. MSHQ has 16 initial items validated previously in 3-factor structure, 9 additional items have been added by the authors without psychometric validation. Socio-demographic, health data and 2 new questionnaires about sexual life were completed. Psychometric properties checked were: ceiling and floor effects, distributions and correlations, factorial analysis, internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity. The analysis has been made with R, by subgroups (gay, HIV, heterosexual and HCV/HVB) in each country and globally.

RESULTS

The validation showed a satisfying factorial structure for the gay and HIV subgroups, the factorial structures are similar to the initial validation, with 3 dimensions and high internal consistency: erection (alpha=0.91), ejaculation (alpha=0.78) and satisfaction (alpha=0.93). The internal consistency is high (alpha = 0.91). Many items (68 %) presented floor effect. However, the structure in other populations, positive HCV, heterosexual men are different. In analysis by countries, there is a factorial variability, probably due to heterogeneity of patients. This can be explained also by the content validity specific for aging men with prostatic problems. HIV and HCV positive patients may have different sexual issues beyond erection and ejaculation difficulties.

CONCLUSIONS

The concepts in MSHQ are targeting prostate disease, especially ejaculations items and the use of this questionnaire should remain in this population. It is not adapted to HIV and HCV positive populations.