Development and validation of the Spanish abbreviated version of the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire for Male-to-Female Transsexuals

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to create and validate an abbreviated version of the Spanish Transsexual Voice Questionnaire for Male-to-Female Transsexuals (SvTVQ^MtF).

Setting: The study was conducted by two referral hospitals for voice feminization surgery and by a university department of psychology and speech therapy, all in Spain.

Subjects and methods: We prospectively studied 51 male-to-female transsexuals who underwent voice feminization surgery between January 2017 and December 2018. The SvTVQ^MtF was completed before and after surgery, and the 10 items with the greatest variation were selected by clinical consensus of an expert panel to develop the short version of the SvTVQ^MtF (SvTVQ^MtF-10). The correlation between the total score and the score for each item on the SvTVQ^MtF and the SvTVQMtF-10 was studied. The internal consistency of the SvTVQ^MtF-10 was analysed.

Results: Good correlation (Pearson coefficient above .90) was found between the two questionnaires. A significant correlation was found between the total SvTVQ^MtF-10 score and the score for each item. A significant negative correlation was found between the SvTVQ^MtF and fundamental frequency after voice feminization surgery. Cronbach's α was .79.

Conclusion: The SvTVQ^MtF-10 is a valid short version of the SvTVQ^MtF and can be used to quantify voice-related quality of life in MtF transsexuals.

Keywords: Calidad de vida; Feminización de la voz; Quality of life; TVQ(MtF); Transexuales; Transgender; Transgénero; Transsexuals; Voice; Voice feminization; Voz.