Spasmodic Dysphonia Interviews

N/AActive Not RecruitingNCT06561334

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust20 enrolled

Overview

Previous research has shown that patients with voice disorders often have a lower quality of life and struggle with employment. Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) is a voice disorder that causes abrupt and uncontrollable spasms of the voice box, often resulting in the person having lifelong changes in their voice and speech pattern. The current mainstay of treatment is injecting botulinum toxin (BT) injections into the vocal cord to ease the spasms. The same research team conducted a pilot study in April 2021 on patients with SD. The pilot study used questionnaires and short interviews to understand the livelihood of 10 SD patients. It displayed that SD may impact patients' quality of life. The investigators now aim to run an official research project, ethically approved, to explore the following questions further: 1. Does SD impact the socio-economic lives of its patients? If so, how? 2. What role does BT play in the socio-economic livelihood of SD patients? To answer these questions, the investigators aim to interview 20 patients with Spasmodic Dysphonia.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Spasmodic Dysphonia Quality of Life

Interventions

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Does Spasmodic Dysphonia impact the socio-economic lives of its patients? If so, how?

Outcome will be measured through qualitative analysis of participant answers regarding how the target condition, spasmodic dysphonia, affects the social and economic aspects of their livelihood.

Time frame: Through study completion, which is expected to be a year

Secondary Outcomes

What role do botulinum toxin injections play in the socio-economic livelihood of Spasmodic Dysphonia patients?

Outcome will be measured through qualitative analysis of participant answers regarding how receiving Botulinum toxin injections may improve their livelihood.