{"doi":"10.1111/psrh.70009","title":"Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Intravaginal Ring Acceptability Scale Among <scp>US</scp> Women and Their Male Partners","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: Intravaginal rings (IVRs) are marketed or in development for contraception and other indications. We sought to develop and validate the IVR Acceptability Scale (IVR-AS) as a multidimensional, standardized tool for assessing IVR acceptability among end-users in the United States. METHODS: Scale items reflect specific aspects of IVR acceptability for women and male partners. Response options range from 1 (not-at-all acceptable) to 5 (highly acceptable). We evaluated the IVR-AS within a randomized, crossover clinical trial of three nonmedicated silicone IVRs of differing external diameters (46, 56, 66 mm) in heterosexual couples who used each for ~30 days, then completed a self-administered survey. We conducted exploratory factor analysis and multivariable regression to assess convergent validity. Follow-up in-depth interviews with all participants explored scale salience. RESULTS: Twenty-four couples participated (mean age 27). The final 19-item women's scale (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93) included six subdimensions: ease of use; experience and sensation; effect on sexual desire/engagement, and effect on vaginal sex (all alphas > 0.78). The final eight-item men's scale comprised two subdimensions: effect on sexual desire/engagement and effect on vaginal sex (all alphas > 0.89). For both sexes, higher overall/subdimension scores were consistently associated with favorable assessments of the ring, for example, ease of insertion/removal; adherence (most p < 0.001). The 46/56 mm IVRs had higher overall and subdimension scores than the 66 mm IVR (most p < 0.001). Qualitative reports reinforced the salience of scale subdimensions and item content. CONCLUSION: The IVR-AS captures multiple dimensions of IVR acceptability among women and their partners. The scales demonstrated excellent reliability and convergent validity. Further validation is warranted in future studies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov: NCT05128136. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05128136?intr=non-medicated%20silicone%20ring&rank=2.","journal":"Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health","year":2025,"id":549890,"datarank":0.20794415416798362,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"self_citation_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9539,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT05128136"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1068751,"name":"Barbara Friedland","orcid":"0000-0002-5041-3634","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":791257,"name":"Marlena Plagianos","orcid":"0000-0003-4718-5674","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1445286,"name":"Brady Zieman","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376141,"name":"Jessica M. Sales","orcid":"0000-0002-1571-8192","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":356486,"name":"Jessica Atrio","orcid":"0000-0002-3505-643X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1445287,"name":"Shakti Shetty","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1445288,"name":"Caio Sant’Anna Marinho","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1259837,"name":"Nicole Roselli","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":791258,"name":"Ruth Merkatz","orcid":"0000-0002-4646-2003","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1438148,"name":"Irene Bruce","orcid":"0009-0004-5596-4357","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":342211,"name":"Lisa B. Haddad","orcid":"0000-0002-7631-6760","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":594805,"name":"Ann Gottert","orcid":"0000-0001-6422-9478","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":12,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:54:12.321988Z","pmid":"40211751","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}