The voice and you: development and psychometric evaluation of a measure of relationships with voices

Abstract

The experience of hearing voices has recently been conceptualized within a relational framework. Birtchnell's Relating Theory offers a framework capable of exploring the power and intimacy within the relationship between the hearer and the voice. However, measures of relationships with voices derived from the theory, such as the Hearer to Voice (HTV) and Voice to Hearer (VTH) by Vaughan and Fowler, have lacked robust psychometric properties. Data were available from 71 participants who completed the HTV and VTH, and analysis of these data generated a new 29-item measure, the Voice and You (VAY), capable of assessing the 'interrelating' between the hearer and the voice. The VAY was completed by a further 30 participants and was found to be internally consistent, stable over time and associated with other measures of the voice-hearing experience. The VAY offers a psychometrically stable measure of the relationship between the hearer and the voice. It may be used as an adjunct to the clinical interview and/or a measure of outcome.

Auditory hallucinations: a review of assessment tools

“…Consistent with Birtchnell's (Birtchnell, 2002) relating theory, the VAY (Hayward et al, 2008) examines the hearer's relationship with the most dominant voice in terms of intersecting axes representing power and intimacy. The VAY has four scales: voice dominance, voice intrusiveness, hearer distance and hearer dependence.…”

“…Beliefs are important in determining the sequelae of hallucinatory experiences (Chadwick & Birchwood, 1994). The Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire-Revised (BAVQ-R; Chadwick, Lees, & Birchwood, 2000), the Voice Power Differential (VPD; Birchwood, Meaden, Trower, Gilbert, & Plaistow, 2000) and the Voice and You Scale (VAY; Hayward, Denney, Vaughan, & Fowler, 2008) are presented below. The reader may also be interested in the Interpretation of Voices Inventory which was developed for a non-clinical population (Morrison, 2002) and is thus not reviewed here although it has been employed with patients (Morrison et al, 2004).…”

Talking With Voices

“…The Revised Beliefs about Voices Questionnaire [47]; and 3. The Voice and You scale [48]; and 4. The Subtypes of Voice Hearing Questionnaire [49].…”

Relating therapy for people who hear voices: A case series

“…The VAY is a 28-item measure of interrelating between the hearer and his/her predominant voice (Hayward, Denney, Vaughan, & Fowler, 2008). Relating is measured across four scales; two concerning the hearer's perception of the relating of the voice-voice dominance and voice intrusiveness; and two concerning the relating of the hearer-hearer distance and hearer dependence.…”