Objectives: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a prevalent condition that can have a significant negative impact on men’s quality of life and also that of their female partners. The objective of this study was to develop a scale for the detection of ED, as assessed by the woman partner. Design and Methods: Qualitative research was conducted via focus groups involving women whose male partners suffer from ED to identify themes/clues. Item construction based on the sexual health inventory for men (SHIM) and qualitative results was subsequently tested using a panel of experts and a panel of women with partners with ED, to document face validity. Concurrent validity analysis was carried out with Spearman’s rho between FAME and clinical diagnosis, SHIM scores, and erectile function domain of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-EF), in a group of 83 couples. Reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha, and sensitivity and specificity were checked against clinical diagnosis. Results: Qualitative analysis yielded 44 clues. Following item construction, 23 items were selected. Of these, 21 items demonstrated statistical significance as the best discriminating items using a t-test for independent samples. A final scale of 6 items was then tested for validity and reliability. FAME correlated significantly with clinical diagnosis (0.743, p<0.001), SHIM score (0.829, p<0.001), and IIEF-EF domain (0.684, p<0.001). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.941. Sensitivity was 97.3% and specificity was 68.9%, compared with SHIM’s values of 100.0% and 55.6%. Conclusion: Accurate detection of ED in males by the woman partner is possible. In this study, FAME (completed by the woman) had higher specificity than the SHIM (completed by the man), and demonstrated validity, reliability and sensitivity in this population. Further research is needed to assess the validity of this tool in other populations.
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Recorded: Sydney, Australia, April 2007
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