We are developing an online questionnaire that assesses pain, muscle tightness, anxiety, and difficulties with vaginal penetration during sex, as experienced with conditions such as vaginismus, dyspareunia, and genito-pelvic pain penetration disorder.

You can take part in this study if you:

• are at least 18 years old,
  
• have internet access on a laptop, PC, tablet, or smartphone,
  
• understand German (reading comprehension is sufficient), and
• are female or were assigned female at birth / have a vagina.

The study consists of two online surveys. The first survey will take approximately 40 minutes to complete, and the second survey will take about 20 minutes.

You will first participate in the initial survey, which is divided into three parts. In the first part, we will collect basic information about you, such as age, gender, birth anatomy, relationship status, children, place of residence, nationality, religiosity, ethnicity, migration background, highest educational degree, main occupation, as well as prior experience with psychotherapy and sexual disorders. In the second part, we will ask about your love life and possible sexual difficulties, such as pain, difficulties with vaginal penetration, fears, and muscle tension. We are also interested in your psychological well-being, overall health, and factors that may affect your sexual experiences. The third part contains questions about sexual pain-penetration disorders.

Four weeks later, you will receive a second survey via email, which focuses exclusively on the topics from parts two and three of the first survey. Your participation is highly valuable for the progress of the study.

Your data will be stored pseudonymously. We ask you to respond spontaneously and honestly. There are no right or wrong answers.

Note: Please do not use the browser’s back button while completing the survey, as this may result in loss of your responses.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason. You also have the right to request information about the processing of your data at any time.

The collection and processing of your data are conducted pseudonymously by the eHealth unit in Clinical Psychology at the University of Marburg. For this purpose, your data will be assigned a personal study number and stored without your name, so that your information can only be linked to you through the coding list. A digital coding list connects your data with your study number. As long as the coding list exists, your data can be re-identified with the relevant supervisory authority to your study number. Access to the coding list is strictly limited to the study team. The coding list will be destroyed after completion of the data analysis, no later than May 1, 2027.

If you believe that your data are being processed unlawfully, you may file a complaint with the Data Protection Officer of the University. In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.