Questionnaires and scales for the evaluation of the online sexual activities: A review of 20 years of research

An increasing number of people use the Internet for Online Sexual Activities (OSA). This sexual revolution has resulted in\udboth positive and negative aspects, enriching sexual functioning but also providing other risks for criminal, negative and\udharmful sexual conducts, or Online Sexual Problems (OSP). A deeper understanding of Internet sexuality is therefore\udimportant for practitioners who work in the psychological and sexological fields. Current studies on Internet sexuality\udspan a broad spectrum with respect to data collection: interviews, questionnaires, observations, content analyses and\udInternet log file recordings have all been used. The aim of this paper is to offer the most complete overview of these\udinstruments focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of different tools currently available to assess different\uddimensions of OSA, and to suggest a simple screener for OSP. A systematic search of published online sexual activities\udinventories was performed using PsychInfo and Pubmed (1993 to July 2013). Although many of them are adequate for\udtheir own purposes, our review revealed a lack of standardized, internationally (culturally) accepted tools that are\udepidemiologically validated in general populations and that can be used to investigate OSA and to assess OSP. The\uddefinitions of OSA and OSP continue to change and basic tools are essential to have a broader idea of the phenomenon\udand of the challenges and possibilities emerging from the double link between the Internet and sexuality. More accurate\udinstruments are also necessary to help advanced clinical diagnosis and treatment for OSP