Menopausal Voice-Related Work Limitation Scale (MenoVWL): Development and Validation

Filipa M B Lã; Ana M Ramírez; Diego Ardura; Mauro B Fiuza; Nuria Polo

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.11.019

Menopausal Voice-Related Work Limitation Scale (MenoVWL): Development and Validation

J Voice. 2022 Nov 29:S0892-1997(22)00371-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.11.019. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Filipa M B Lã¹, Ana M Ramírez², Diego Ardura³, Mauro B Fiuza², Nuria Polo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Education, Department of Didactics, School Organization and Special Didactics, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: filipa.la@edu.uned.es.
² Faculty of Education, Department of Didactics, School Organization and Special Didactics, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain.
³ Faculty of Education, Department of Research Methods and Diagnoses in Education I, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Faculty of Philology, Department of Spanish Language and General Linguistics, National University of Distance Learning (UNED), Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 36460538
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.11.019

Abstract

Objectives: Menopause has been reported to affect the voice of female professional voice users (FPVUs). The present study aims at the development and validation of a scale to measure self-perceived menopausal voice-related limitation to work in FPVUs, henceforth the Menopausal Voice-Related Work Limitation Scale (MenoVWL).

Methods: Items were drawn from previous studies on impacts of sex steroid hormones on voice, available validated scales, and in-depth interviews with post-menopausal FPVUs. A preliminary version with 16 items was evaluated by a panel of 15 voice experts. The resulting revised version was filled in online, together with questions on current endocrinological reproductive status and related symptoms, history of amenorrhea, professional occupation, and demographic information. Responses concerning only professional voice users were selected and inclusive and exclusive criteria were applied for correct allocation of participants into pre- and post-menopausal stages within a restrict age range;192 responses were subject to factorial analysis for MenoVWL validation. Cronbach's alpha measured internal reliability. The scale was tested by comparing MenoVWL scores between pre- and post-menopausal FPVUs (98 and 94, respectively).

Results: Thirteen items were retained from the expert panel evaluation. Items presented a high Content Validity Index (.94 out of 1) and high Item Acceptance Ratio (86.25 %). Both exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis rendered one dimension scale with an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .9). The results of a Mann-Whitney test showed a higher MenoVWL score for post- as compared to pre-menopausal FPVUs (Z = - 2.818; P = .005).

Conclusions: MenoVWL is a comprehensive and validated scale with a known factor structure. It constitutes a health care and safety outcome self-perceived measure of value to the early detection of voice-related limitations to work in FPVUs during menopause.

Keywords: Female professional voice users; Menopause; Occupational voice-related limitation to work.