Development and validation of the German translation of the views on inpatient care (VOICE-DE) outcome measure to assess service users' perceptions of inpatient psychiatric care

Background Service user satisfaction in inpatient psychiatric care is often measured with instruments that have been designed by professionals, without involving the perspective of service users. Views on Inpatient Care (VOICE), developed in England, is among the first service-user-generated outcome measures which included service users' perspectives in the process. Aims In this study, we aimed to validate a German version of VOICE. Methods The original questionnaire was translated into German and validated using data collected from 163 inpatients undergoing treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The instrument was tested for its psychometric properties, focusing on measurements of reliability and construct validity. Also, we assessed the impact of demographic variables. Finally, factorial analyses were carried out to compare the underlying factorial structure to the English version. Results The analyses revealed a high internal consistency (alpha = 0.90). No significant impact of demographic variables was observed. Factorial analyses indicated a one-factor structure which accounted for 40.39% of variance. Conclusions Psychometrical evaluation of VOICE-DE indicated the questionnaire to be a suitable tool to assess service users' personal experience with treatment and satisfaction in German.