Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Iranian Version of the Postpartum Sexual Function and Dyspareunia Assessment Tool: The Carol Scale

Female sexual dysfunction is one of the major health problems of women after childbirth. So, the present study was conducted with the aim of localizing the postpartum sexual function and dyspareunia assessment tool (The Carol Scale).

This methodological study was conducted in 2019-2020 on 200 woman during three months after vaginal delivery. The original version of the Carol scale is in Spanish, which after obtaining permission from the tool developer, was translated into Persian using the protocol of forward-backward translation. First, the face and content validity, and then the construct validity, were determined by confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability was determined by the test-retest method as well as the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Data analysis was performed using SPSS and LISREL software.

Structural factor analysis was performed using confirmatory factor analysis, and four factors of original tool were confirmed. The fit of the four-factor model was confirmed ideal fit based on goodness of fit indices. All reliability indices reported good internal consistency and the overall ICC was 0.793, which indicated the stability or repeatability of the scale over time.

The Persian version of the Carol scale has evidence-supporting reliability, validity, and responsiveness; it can be used to assess postpartum sexual function and dyspareunia among Iranian women after vaginal delivery.