The Semi‐Structured Clinical Interview for the Assessment of Compulsive Sexual Behavior (SSCI‐CSB): Development, Reliability, and Validity

OBJECTIVES: The assessment of Compulsive Sexual Behavior (CSB) requires fine-grained assessment approaches, ideally through clinical interviews. However, none of the few available clinical interviews for CSB have demonstrated strong psychometric properties. To address this limitation, we developed the Semi-Structured Clinical Interview for the assessment of CSB (SSCI-CSB), an interview that gathers information on the manifestations, symptoms, and clinical course of CSB. The aim of this study was to examine its reliability and validity in a sample of patients seeking treatment for out-of-control sexual behavior. METHODS: The SSCI-CSB was administered as a routine assessment to a sample of 85 patients (81 men, four women) seeking outpatient treatment for CSB in two moments: at an initial screening (n = 85) and after 3 months (n = 22). RESULTS: Of the 16 CSB criteria assessed by the SSCI-CSB, four were endorsed by < 40% of the participants. Internal consistency was excellent (α = 0.95; ω = 0.97). Similarly, test-retest reliability was high (r of 0.882 and Kappa in the range of fair-to-almost-perfect agreement). The SSCI-CSB showed more specificity/positive predictive value than sensitivity/negative predictive value. CONCLUSION: The SSCI-CSB may be an appropriate assessment tool to assess and diagnose CSB in the round in patients seeking treatment for out-of-control sexual behaviors.