Abstract
Background
Voice is a key component of people’s identities, yet for many transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals, their voice can betray their assigned sex (Pasricha et al., 2008). Voice-gender incongruence can lead to reduced confidence in communication, feelings of discomfort, and impaired functioning in everyday life (Davies et al., 2015). The success of gender affirming voice therapy may be measured using subjective measures of quality of life (QoL).
Aims
This review aims to describe and compare these QoL outcome measures in voice therapy for TGD individuals.
Method
A comprehensive and systematic search of major databases was augmented with forward and reverse citation searching, and key author contact. Removal of search duplicates and application of inclusion/exclusion criteria resulted in 16 records for data extraction and narrative thematic analysis.
Results
The majority of the 16 records were single case studies or case series of small numbers of participants. Eleven studies included adult trans women, three trans men, two non-binary clients. 4/16 papers provided therapy for adolescents. Studies used a range of formal and informal QoL measures. Considered collectively, voice therapy led to increased group QoL and satisfaction across all the included studies; however, not every individual in every study reported improvements and self-report measures did not always correlate with other outcome measures.
Conclusion
Voice therapy has improved QoL for TGD individuals. A relatively recent shift to using population specific psychometrically validated QoL tools will likely improve the generalizability of findings in future studies which should also seek to consider the full age range of clients requesting gender affirming voice therapy.
Voice is a key component of people’s identities, yet for many transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals, their voice can betray their assigned sex (Pasricha et al., 2008). Voice-gender incongruence can lead to reduced confidence in communication, feelings of discomfort, and impaired functioning in everyday life (Davies et al., 2015). The success of gender affirming voice therapy may be measured using subjective measures of quality of life (QoL).
Aims
This review aims to describe and compare these QoL outcome measures in voice therapy for TGD individuals.
Method
A comprehensive and systematic search of major databases was augmented with forward and reverse citation searching, and key author contact. Removal of search duplicates and application of inclusion/exclusion criteria resulted in 16 records for data extraction and narrative thematic analysis.
Results
The majority of the 16 records were single case studies or case series of small numbers of participants. Eleven studies included adult trans women, three trans men, two non-binary clients. 4/16 papers provided therapy for adolescents. Studies used a range of formal and informal QoL measures. Considered collectively, voice therapy led to increased group QoL and satisfaction across all the included studies; however, not every individual in every study reported improvements and self-report measures did not always correlate with other outcome measures.
Conclusion
Voice therapy has improved QoL for TGD individuals. A relatively recent shift to using population specific psychometrically validated QoL tools will likely improve the generalizability of findings in future studies which should also seek to consider the full age range of clients requesting gender affirming voice therapy.
Conference
| Conference | Speech Pathology Australia National Conference 2022 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | Beyond borders |
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Melbourne |
| Period | 22/05/22 → 25/05/22 |
| Other | If nothing else, recent events have demonstrated the ingenuity and resolve required to provide quality speech pathology services. Specifically, challenging and changed times has reminded us to stretch and reach beyond our perceived borders to achieve excellence with our practice, research, information dissemination and client and family engagement. It has also reaffirmed that speech pathologists’ reach and impact is far and wide. Thus, we invite speech pathologists to join us in Melbourne in 2022 to share and discuss how we have gone Beyond Borders with regards to clientele, research, information dissemination. As always, the program will include keynote speakers, leaders at the forefront of Speech Pathology: Professor Gail Gillon, Dr Joanne (Jo) Watson and our Elizabeth Usher Memorial Award Recipient, Professor Miranda Rose. We anticipate a great attendance as we return to our in-person conference, providing our members the much-needed opportunity to network with leaders, make new contacts and build those important relationships which we have all missed. |
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