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Developed by Sandra Escher, Patsy Hage and Marius Romme.

Further revisions by Monique Pennings.

Copyright held by Prof. M.A.J. Romme & Mrs. A. Escher

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This questionnaire was originally designed as a research tool to elicit information from people who hear voices. It has proved to be extremely useful in getting a much fuller picture of the shared experiences of voice hearers and the results have subsequently been used to develop a range of coping strategies that can help voice hearers to come to terms with their experience.

As a result of using this questionnaire, we discovered that as well as its value for research, it also proved to be a good way of beginning the process of exploring the voice experience for individual voice hearers - and - as a means of developing the confidence of mental health workers who want to work with voice hearers.

It is important to stress that this questionnaire was developed by voice hearers in partnership with mental health professionals and that voice hearers are regarded as being the experts and full partners in the process of finding solutions to the difficulties that hearing voices can sometimes cause.

You can download the full version of the questionaire here

Information for voice hearers

This questionnaire has been designed for people who hear voices. It is intended to help you to understand your experience better. It is our view that your voice hearing experiences gives you knowledge and expertise that no one else, other than voice hearers, can possibly have. Therefore we would like to ask you to share this knowledge by completing the questionnaire so that we can all achieve a fuller understanding of what these experiences mean. If you are exploring your voice experiences with someone else, such as a friend, therapist or mental health worker, then filling in this questionnaire could be a way to help them understand what is happening to you.

We are particularly interested to find out in what circumstances you hear voices and what methods you use to cope with them. We want this questionnaire to be useful, not only to the person who fills it in, but also to other voice hearers. For instance, perhaps you have devised a method that enables you to overpower the voices, if so, it might be possible to teach others to do the same. For this reason the results of the questionnaire are being used for our research into voices and we would like to ask your permission to use your completed questionnaire for this purpose. We would also like to be able to contact you again should we need to ask you to clarify any of your answers. We want to be able to do this so that the we get all the facts right, which is very important in research work. After completion, a summary of the interview will be given to you for your own use. Your identity and other information about your experience will be confidential and only used with your consent.

Since the interview is a long one (it can take a minimum of one and half hours to fill in, sometimes longer) and the questions require you to think a lot about your experience, you may want to conduct the interview over two sessions, rather than one. Please feel free to let the interviewer know if you are getting tired or upset and the interview can be continued at another session.

Information for interviewers

This questionnaire has been designed to increase knowledge and awareness of the voice hearing experience. It can be used as a way of opening up discussion about voices with someone you are working with, as the interview can encourage and stimulate dialogue about the voices. For some voice hearers, this could be the first time that they have talked about their experience and for many it will be the first time this has been done in a structured and considered way. The voice hearer may disclose information that may have been unknown to you or to any service working with them. Therefore, the interview is a potentially intense experience for the voice hearer and interviewer and it is necessary to consider the availability of follow up support (such as someone to talk to, a telephone number to call, availability of supervision for the interviewer etc.). It could be that the voices become more active or angry as a result of the interview. It is our experience to date, however, that this is rarely a problem and that most voice hearers find the questionnaire an enjoyable and positive experience as it provides a safe and structured way to talk about their voices. The questionnaire can also be a way of building trust between the voice hearer and the person they are working with and can create favourable conditions for further discussion and action about how to cope with the voices, such as joining a self help group and developing other coping strategies.

The interview should be conducted in a mutually acceptable place, it should feel safe, quiet and be free from interruptions. If you have not previously met the voice hearer or only know them slightly, it would be valuable to hold a preliminary meeting to explain the purpose of the questionnaire and to answer any questions the respondent may have, this helps to build trust. This pre-interview should be unstructured and informal, although in answering the questionnaire itself it is important to follow the question format. This questionnaire has been designed for adults (over 16 years), if required there is a specific questionnaire for children which can be obtained from INTERVOICE.

Please ensure a summary of the completed questionnaire is given to the respondent.