Communication Assessment Tool for Gender-Diverse People Assigned Female at Birth

The transgender community and their communication wishes are diverse and heterogenous, so it is important to understand the situation and goals of each person individually before beginning therapy (Azul 2015). While the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire, Male to Female (TVQMTF, Dacakis, Davies, Oates, Johnston, & Douglas, 2013) exists for clinicians to assess the vocal situation of transfeminine individuals, a counterpart does not exist for transmasculine individuals. The vocal situation, sociocultural positioning, and wellbeing factors of transmasculine individuals are unique and by most accounts not unproblematic; thus, the Voice and Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire for Gender-Diverse People Assigned Female at Birth (VCSQ-AFAB) was drafted to address the voice-related needs of this population. Three systematically organized focus groups of transmasculine participants (n=12) were held to 1) improve understanding of common voice-related ideas and needs in the community and 2) assess the comprehensiveness and face validity of the VCSQ-AFAB. Thematic analysis of the focus groups proved that the voice-related ideas and needs of this transmasculine community aligned with the three proposed domains: voice function, sociocultural positioning, and communication-related wellbeing, and that all items were warranted. Participants deemed the questionnaire an overall comprehensive and thorough assessment tool; constructive feedback regarding the questionnaire’s user-friendliness resulted in minor modifications to the initially proposed tool. The VCSQ-AFAB demonstrates face validity and is valuable for person-centered clinical practice with gender-diverse people AFAB.

Author

• Chennupati, Sindhura

Language

• en

Keyword

• Questionnaire
• Transgender
• Voice
• Transmasculine

Date created

• 2020

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Speech-Language Pathology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Hancock, Adrienne B

Committee Member(s)

• Wallace, Gregory
• Siegfriedt, Linda I

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/dj52w555d