Elsevier

Urology

Volume 53, Issue 4, April 1999, Pages 793-799
Urology

Adult Urology
EDITS: development of questionnaires for evaluating satisfaction with treatments for erectile dysfunction 1,

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0090-4295(98)00582-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives. To develop Patient and Partner versions of a psychometrically sound questionnaire, the EDITS (Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction), to assess satisfaction with medical treatments for erectile dysfunction.

Methods. Treatment satisfaction differs from treatment efficacy as it focuses on a person’s subjective evaluation of treatment received. Twenty-nine items representing the domain of treatment satisfaction for men and 20 representing partner satisfaction were generated. Two independent samples of 28 and 29 couples completed all items at two points in time. Spearman rank-order correlations were derived to assess test-retest reliability and couple coefficients of validity. Internal consistency coefficients were calculated for both Patient and Partner versions and a content validity panel was used to analyze content validity.

Results. Only items that met all the following criteria were selected to comprise the final questionnaires: (a) range of response four or more out of five; (b) test-retest reliability greater than 0.70; (c) ratings by at least 70% of the content validity panel as belonging in and being important for the domain; and (d) significant correlation between the subjects’ and partners’ responses. Eleven patient items met criteria and formed the Patient EDITS; five partner items met criteria and formed the Partner EDITS. Scores on the two inventories were normally distributed with internal consistencies of 0.90 and 0.76, respectively. Test-retest reliability for the Patient EDITS was 0.98; for the Partner EDITS, it was 0.83.

Conclusions. Reliability and validity were well established, enabling the EDITSs to be used to assess satisfaction with treatment modalities for erectile dysfunction and to explore the impact of patient and partner satisfaction on treatment continuation.

Section snippets

Item pool construction

Pools of items for the patient and partner versions of a treatment satisfaction questionnaire were constructed based on reviews of four sources of information: (a) diagnostic criteria for erectile dysfunction, (b) published reports in the area of treatment satisfaction for erectile dysfunction,19 (c) existing treatment satisfaction inventories, and (d) clinical experience treating patients with erectile dysfunction and their partners.

Items were constructed to be unambiguous and answerable on

Content validity panel

Responses of the 10 members of the expert validity panel for each of the questions were dichotomized. Items were considered to have been judged as belonging in the domain if the respondent indicated that it moderately, considerably, or absolutely belonged in the domain; items judged as moderately, considerably, or absolutely important were considered important to the domain. The percentage of the panel that rated each item as belonging in the domain and as important in the domain is shown in

Comment

The Patient EDITS and the Partner EDITS are brief, psychometrically sound questionnaires suitable for use in the evaluation of satisfaction with medical treatment modalities for erectile dysfunction. The two inventories have six features that merit their use.

  • 1.

    The inventories are focused specifically on satisfaction with treatment for erectile dysfunction. They are not measures of treatment satisfaction in general and thus do not ask about things like the attractiveness of the facility or the

Acknowledgements

To Sue Ellen Jackson, M.A., Franca Burton, R.N., Mary Alice Monroe, R.N., Irene Trueheart, R.N., and Helen Anderson for their assistance in completing the study.

Cited by (360)

View all citing articles on Scopus

This research was supported by Pfizer, Inc., New York, New York.

1

Requests for copies of the EDITS should be directed to S.E. Althof.

2

S.E. Althof, E.W. Corty, S.B. Levine, A.L. Burnett, K. McVary, and A.D. Seftel are paid consultants to and V. Stecher is an employee of Pfizer, Inc.

View full text