Research and development on a public attitude instrument for stuttering

doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2011.12.001

Journal of Communication Disorders

Volume 45, Issue 2, March–April 2012, Pages 129-146

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2011.12.001 Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper summarizes research associated with the development of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S), a survey instrument designed to provide a worldwide standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering. Pilot studies with early experimental prototypes of the POSHA–S are summarized that relate to questionnaire rating scale prototypes, test–retest reliability, construct validity, item analysis and final item selection, translation to other languages, internal consistency, sampling procedures, manner of administration, and sample size. Future research and public service uses of the POSHA–S are discussed, especially for comparisons using its growing database archive.

Learning outcomes: Readers of this article should be able to: (1) describe the purposes of the International Project on Attitudes Toward Human Attributes (IPATHA) initiative, (2) describe procedures to determine reliability and validity of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S), (3) describe factor analysis and other strategies to select items from the POSHA–E1 and POSHA–E2 pilot studies for the final POSHA–S, and (4) describe uses of the POSHA–S database archive in studies of public attitudes toward stuttering.

Highlights

► Goal to provide a worldwide standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering. ► Summary of work on the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S). ► Research on experimental prototypes of the POSHA–S up to final version summarized. ► Rating scales, reliability, validity, item selection, translations, and sampling issues. ► Uses of the growing POSHA–S database archive.

Section snippets

Background and purpose

Boyle, Blood, and Blood (2009), Hughes (2008), and Hughes, Gabel, Irani, and Schlagheck (2010) provide succinct and comprehensive reviews of a voluminous and growing literature on stereotyping and stigma by the general public toward stuttering and those who stutter. Studies of public attitudes are not at all limited to stuttering; a much larger literature exists for conditions such as mental illness wherein research documents stigma, illegal discrimination, lack of access to help, and numerous

IPATHA: Inauguration and prototype questionnaires

In 1999, a Task Force was convened in Morgantown, WV, USA with the primary objective to lay the groundwork for developing an instrument to measure public attitudes toward stuttering. The name given to the initiative was the International Project on Attitudes Toward Stuttering (IPATS). We later changed the name to the International Project on Attitudes Toward Human Attributes (IPATHA) since the intent of the initiative, even at the outset, was to measure public attitudes toward stuttering and

The POSHA–S database archive

It bears reiterating that a primary weakness in most of the research on stuttering attitudes is the lack of standard comparisons. The primary objective of IPATHA has been to provide such a standard instrument in the POSHA–S. In order to accomplish this objective an ongoing archive of data must be maintained, and new data added to it as it becomes available.

Items from the finalized POSHA–S are arranged in a database archive from samples using the POSHA–S and relevant items from the POSHA–E1 and

Summary

This paper summarizes 12 years of epidemiological research on the development of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S), a survey instrument designed to measure public attitudes toward stuttering worldwide. Empirical investigations have shown the POSHA–S to be a user-friendly, valid, and reliable measure of stuttering attitudes that can be effectively translated to other languages and used, with probability sampling, to generalize to populations. The recently

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Cited by (40)

Attitudes toward stuttering of college students in the USA and China: A cross-cultural comparison using the POSHA-S
2024, Journal of Fluency Disorders
This study compared the attitudes toward stuttering among college students in China and the USA using the POSHA-S survey, which assesses knowledge about stuttering and attitudes toward it. We investigated how cultural and social differences between the two groups influenced these attitudes.
We collected 199 responses to the POSHA-S survey from various universities in China and the USA. We conducted a statistical analysis of 15 summary scores generated from the POSHA-S to determine if there were significant differences in attitudes toward stuttering between the two groups. Additionally, we retrieved percentile ranks relative to the global POSHA-S database to compare attitudes in both groups with global median scores.
The study revealed that Chinese college students hold more negative attitudes toward stuttering compared to their American counterparts and the global median scores. We discussed the social and cultural factors that may contribute to these attitudes. Furthermore, our findings emphasized the importance of addressing the lack of accurate information about stuttering in China, which could be a key factor driving these negative attitudes.
These results underscore the urgent need to raise awareness about stuttering and promote a shift in public attitudes, especially among college students in China, who play influential roles in society's future.
Public attitudes toward stuttering in Malaysia
2022, Journal of Fluency Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
Of 50 printed surveys distributed face-to-face to participants, 37 rejected participation, resulting in a 26 % response rate for this subset of the final sample. The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) (St. Louis et al., 2008, 2014; St. Louis, 2005, 2012b, 2015) is a standard instrument designed to measure public attitudes toward stuttering within the context of a variety of human attributes or conditions. The POSHA-S consists of a demographic section (which gathers participant information pertaining to current residence and place of birth, educational and relational/familial status, age, occupation and income, etc.), a general section (which compares participants’ stuttering responses to the attributes of intelligence, handedness, mental illness, and obesity), and a detailed stuttering section (which asks detailed questions related to stuttering).
This study aims to: (a) measure public attitudes toward stuttering in Malaysia using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attitudes-Stuttering [POSHA-S], (b) determine how reported attitudes and knowledge related to stuttering compare to existing data, and (c) determine whether there are differences between groups for identified variables.
A total of 250 adults (mean age = 29 years; range = 19–60 years) completed the POSHA–S in English. We compared this sample's attitudes toward stuttering to POSHA-S data from other global samples. General linear modeling examined differences in overall stuttering score, beliefs, and self reaction subscores for demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, parenting, education, employment status, prior exposure to a person who stutters, multilingual, race, and religion.
The Malaysian participants’ overall stuttering score and the beliefs and self reactions subscores were all considerably lower (i.e., less positive) than the other samples around the world from the POSHA-S database median values. Being male, receiving a higher education, and knowing someone who stutters were linked to having more positive self reactions, but none of those factors was linked to positive or negative beliefs. Those who had previously been exposed to stuttering scored significantly higher than those who had not.
Malaysians may have less positive attitudes toward stuttering than Westerners. More needs to be done to make society more accepting of people who stutter. Future research should aim to find ways to educate and to raise public awareness about stuttering.
Australian attitudes towards stuttering: A cross-sectional study
2021, Journal of Fluency Disorders
Negative reactions experienced by people who stutter often stem from unfounded attitudes and beliefs in the community.
There is a need to better understand current public attitudes towards stuttering in Australia. The purpose of this study was to: (a) explore the attitudes and knowledge of a large sample of the Australian public using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attitudes-Stuttering [POSHA-S], (b) identify how the reported attitudes towards, and knowledge of, stuttering compare to existing data, and (c) identify differences between groups for variables identified.
A cross-sectional population study using the POSHA-S was conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Comparisons of the attitudes towards stuttering of this sample were made with data from other worldwide samples on the POSHA-S database. The influence on attitudes to stuttering of variables including age, gender, education level, country of birth, employment status and number of languages spoken was explored.
The Overall Stuttering Score (OSS) of the Australian sample was higher than the median score on the POSHA-S database. This suggests that the Australian public holds more positive attitudes than those other countries represented in the database. Being younger, more educated, employed, female, monolingual, born in Australia and not familiar with people who stutter were related to more positive attitudes for this sample. Some negative stereotypes towards stuttering were noted; people who stutter were identified as ‘shy and fearful’, and ‘nervous and excitable’.
While the Australian public has generally positive attitudes towards stuttering, these attitudes still reflect some ‘stuttering stereotypes’.
Changing Polish university students’ attitudes toward cluttering
2021, Journal of Fluency Disorders
This quasi-experimental design study in Poland explored the extent to which attitudes toward cluttering of university students could be changed or improved after a series of activities dedicated to attaining deeper recognition of problems associated with fluency disorders.
University students were assigned to either an Experimental or a Control group, with 39 in each (total = 78). They all completed the Polish version of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Cluttering (POSHA–Cl) on two occasions up to eight weeks apart.
Participants in the Experimental group attended the following intervention activities: watching and discussing an educational video on cluttering, participating in a workshop on the nature of cluttering, and watching and discussing a documentary on the life experiences of people struggling with fluency disorders. The Experimental group also filled out an open-ended questionnaire at the end of the study.
Pre-intervention comparisons indicated that participants assigned to either of the Experimental or Control groups differed significantly on 2 of the 15 summary ratings (13 %) of their pre-POSHA–Cl attitudes toward cluttering. For the Experimental group, the intervention resulted in significant positive changes in cluttering attitudes on 8 of the 15 summary ratings (53 %). In contrast, pre- and post- POSHA–Cl scores for the Control group were essentially unchanged (0 of 15 ratings).
This quasi-experimental study demonstrated that it is possible to positively modify the cluttering attitudes of university students. This has implications for the length, content, and experiential components of interventions designed to improve public attitudes toward fluency disorders.
Comparing stuttering attitudes of preschool through 5th grade children and their parents in a predominately rural Appalachian sample
2019, Journal of Fluency Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
The 201-point continuum (i.e., the range from -100 to 100, including 0) is exactly comparable mathematically—but intuitively more reflective of subtleties in stuttering attitudes—than the equivalent number from 1 to 3 with one or two decimal point values, e.g., -48 versus 1.52. Extensive research indicates that the data transformation procedure generates satisfactory test-retest reliability of individual items in the POSHA-S (St. Louis, Reichel, Yaruss, & Lubker, 2009; St. Louis, 2012c; St. Louis, Lubker, Yaruss, & Aliveto, 2009) and POSHA-S/Child (St. Louis & Weidner, 2018). Considering the subscores, in a heretofore unpublished summary comparison of 345 adults from 12 widely different samples using the POSHA-S database, correlation coefficients between pre versus post scores after no interventions ranged from 0.72 to 0.79 for Beliefs, Self Reactions, and OSS and 0.61 for Obesity/Mental Illness.
Theories relating to young children’s social cognitive maturity and their prevailing social groups play important roles in the acquisition of attitudes. Previous research has shown that preschool and kindergarten children’s stuttering attitudes are characterized by stronger negative beliefs and self reactions than those of parents. By contrast, 12 year-old children’s stuttering attitudes have been shown to be similar to their parents’ attitudes. Other research indicates that parental stuttering attitudes are no different from attitudes of adults who are not parents.
The purpose of this study was to explore children’s stuttering attitudes of preschool through 5th grade children and to compare them to their parents’ attitudes.
Children and parents from a rural Appalachian elementary school and child/parent pairs from other areas in the region responded to child and adult versions of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S/Child and POSHA–S). Seven grade levels were included: preschool, kindergarten, 1^st grade, 2^nd grade, 3^rd grade, 4^th grade, and 5^th grade.
Confirming earlier research, younger children’s attitudes toward stuttering were considerably less positive than those of their parents. As children matured up to the fifth grade, however, their stuttering attitudes progressively were more positive. Parents’ stuttering attitudes were quite consistent across all seven grade levels.
Consistent with theories of attitudinal development, between the ages of 4 and 11 years, children’s measured attitudes toward stuttering improved and gradually approximated the attitudes of their parents and the general public.
A country-wide probability sample of public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugal
2017, Journal of Fluency Disorders
Negative public attitudes toward stuttering have been widely reported, although differences among countries and regions exist. Clear reasons for these differences remain obscure.
Published research is unavailable on public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugal as well as a representative sample that explores stuttering attitudes in an entire country. This study sought to (a) determine the feasibility of a country-wide probability sampling scheme to measure public stuttering attitudes in Portugal using a standard instrument (the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering [POSHA–S]) and (b) identify demographic variables that predict Portuguese attitudes.
The POSHA–S was translated to European Portuguese through a five-step process. Thereafter, a local administrative office-based, three-stage, cluster, probability sampling scheme was carried out to obtain 311 adult respondents who filled out the questionnaire.
The Portuguese population held stuttering attitudes that were generally within the average range of those observed from numerous previous POSHA–S samples. Demographic variables that predicted more versus less positive stuttering attitudes were respondents’ age, region of the country, years of school completed, working situation, and number of languages spoken. Non-predicting variables were respondents’ sex, marital status, and parental status.
A local administrative office-based, probability sampling scheme generated a respondent profile similar to census data and indicated that Portuguese attitudes are generally typical.

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ReviewResearch and development on a public attitude instrument for stuttering

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

Background and purpose

IPATHA: Inauguration and prototype questionnaires

The POSHA–S database archive

Summary

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Journal of Communication Disorders

Epidemiology of stuttering in the community across the entire life span

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Stigma: Notes on management of a spoiled identity

Does mental illness stigma contribute to adolescent standardized patients’ discomfort with simulations of mental illness and adverse psychosocial experiences?

Academic Psychiatry

Instrument translation process: A method review

Journal of Advanced Nursing

Effects of emotional intelligence training in graduate fluency disorders courses

PASW statistics 18.0.0

Review
Research and development on a public attitude instrument for stuttering