Design and Psychometrics of the Sexual-Reproductive Needs and Concerns Scale of Iranian Never-Married Women Over 35

Abstract Background In traditional cultures, never-married women over 35 have to face a broad variety of social challenges. So far, no tool has been developed to measure the needs and concerns of these women. The purpose of the present study was to design the Farsi Scale of Sexual-Reproductive Needs and Concerns of never-married women over 35 and to assess its psychometric properties. Methods The combined exploratory study had two phases. In the first phase, we performed a qualitative study. We interviewed never-married Iranian women over 35; next, from their descriptions, we extracted specific items, and these items were aggregated to form items of a questionnaire. To psychometrically validate the questionnaire, we tested the validity (face, content, and structure) and reliability (internal consistency and stability) of the questionnaire. For evaluating the structural validity, a cross-sectional study of 240 never-married women over the age of 35 completed the questionnaire. Results The Sexual-Reproductive Needs and Concerns Scale of Iranian Never-Married Women over 35 was developed with 15 items and three dimensions (Emotional burden; Sexual needs; Stigma). Cronbach's alpha of the instrument was 0.81 and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was 0.98. Conclusion The results of the study showed that the developed scale has acceptable validity and reliability, and thus can be used to assess the sexual-reproductive needs and concerns of never-married Iranian women over 35.