Assessing Adherence to Voice Therapy: A Comparison between the URICA-VOICE Questionnaire and Completion Rate.

Area of Science:

• Speech and Language Pathology
• Clinical Psychology
• Health Outcomes Research

Background:

• Adherence to voice therapy is crucial for successful treatment outcomes in patients with voice disorders.
• Assessing adherence accurately is essential for evaluating therapeutic effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the predictive capabilities of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment of voice (URICA-VOICE) questionnaire and actual completion rate in assessing adherence.
• To evaluate the impact of these adherence measures on voice therapy outcomes.

Main Methods:

• 127 patients with voice disorders were assessed using URICA-VOICE for initial adherence and completion rate post-therapy.
• Concordance between URICA-VOICE and completion rate was analyzed.
• Impact on Voice Handicap Index (VHI), Jitter, and Shimmer was scrutinized.

Main Results:

• URICA-VOICE predicted higher poor adherence (62.99%) than observed via completion rate (56.69%).
• Completion rate showed significant improvements in VHI, Jitter, and Shimmer for adherent patients (P < 0.01).
• URICA-VOICE failed to show significant outcome differences between predicted adherence groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Completion rate reflects tangible adherence and correlates with treatment efficacy.
• URICA-VOICE assesses pre-training mental readiness but is less predictive of outcomes.
• Direct adherence assessment via completion rate is vital for optimizing voice therapy results.