Objectives: To develop a brief questionnaire to measure male sexual function.
Methods: An initial set of questions was refined and reduced through cognitive testing and two serial validation studies. In each study, men were recruited from a sexual dysfunction clinic and a general medicine practice to complete the instrument. Test-retest reliabilities, internal consistencies, and construct validities were examined.
Results: The final instrument covers sexual drive (two items), erection (three items), ejaculation (two items), perceptions of problems in each area (three items), and overall satisfaction (one item). Psychometric performance was generally very satisfactory, although self-assessments of ejaculate volume are problematic. Translations have been developed and pilot tested in a number of languages.
Conclusions: The Brief Sexual Function Inventory may be useful for measuring male sexual function in practice and research.