Test-Retest Reliability of Self-Reported Sexual Behavior History in Urbanized Nigerian Women.
Front Public Health
; 5: 172, 2017.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28770192
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Studies assessing risk of sexual behavior and disease are often plagued by questions about the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of self-reported sexual history among urbanized women in a prospective study of cervical HPV infections in Nigeria.METHODS:
We examined test-retest reliability of sexual practices using questionnaires administered at study entry and at follow-up visits. We used the root mean squared approach to calculate within-person coefficient of variation (CVw) and calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) using two way, mixed effects models for continuous variables and [Formula see text] statistics for discrete variables. To evaluate the potential predictors of reliability, we used linear regression and log binomial regression models for the continuous and categorical variables, respectively.RESULTS:
We found that self-reported sexual history was generally reliable, with overall ICC ranging from 0.7 to 0.9; however, the reliability varied by nature of sexual behavior evaluated. Frequency reports of non-vaginal sex (agreement = 63.9%, 95% CI 47.5-77.6%) were more reliable than those of vaginal sex (agreement = 59.1%, 95% CI 55.2-62.8%). Reports of time-invariant behaviors were also more reliable than frequency reports. The CVw for age at sexual debut was 10.7 (95% CI 10.6-10.7) compared with the CVw for lifetime number of vaginal sex partners, which was 35.2 (95% CI 35.1-35.3). The test-retest interval was an important predictor of reliability of responses, with longer intervals resulting in increased inconsistency (average change in unreliability for each 1 month increase = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.07-0.38, p = 0.005).CONCLUSION:
Our findings suggest that overall, the self-reported sexual history among urbanized Nigeran women is reliable.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Front Public Health
Año:
2017
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido