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

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. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.