Speech pathology student clinician attitudes and beliefs towards people who stutter: A mixed-method pilot study
Section snippets
Introduction and rationale
A fluency disorder, such as stuttering, is characterised by interruptions to speech fluency (Justice, 2006). It is one of the most common developmental disorders and affects approximately one to two per cent of the population at a given time (Gilman, 2012). Stuttering is most common in children, and usually begins in early childhood between two and five years of age (Howell et al., 2008, Yairi and Ambrose, 2005). Moreover, stuttering is a multifaceted disorder that extends beyond its physical
Purpose
The specific research questions addressed were:
- (a)
What are the attitudes and beliefs of final year Australian speech pathology student clinicians towards people who stutter?
- (b)
What do final year Australian speech pathology student clinicians perceive are the effects on people who stutter across the lifespan?
- (c)
What are final year Australian speech pathology student clinicians’ perceptions towards stigma associated with people who stutter?
- (d)
What are the attitudes of the Australian speech pathology student
Research design: mixed-method approach
This research utilised a mixed-method approach. In using the method of triangulation, the qualitative data provided further insight into the quantitative data. Hughes et al. (2010) suggested that mixed-methods research enhances understanding of attitudes towards children and adults who stutter. They contended that quantitative data provides a “breadth of understanding” (p. 283), while qualitative data provides a deeper understanding of the reasons behind perceptions of people who stutter. Past
Qualitative results
The results of the thematic analysis are summarised in Table 2. A more comprehensive table can be found in Appendix B
Discussion
This study sought to explore the attitudes and beliefs of final year Australian speech pathology students towards people who stutter, and expose the influencing factors of these beliefs. It comprised a sample of Australian students from a major Australian university. Thirteen students participated in a semi-structured interview and completed the POSHA-S.
Conclusion and limitations
The current research explored speech pathology student clinician attitudes and beliefs towards people who stutter. The results from both the semi-structured interviews and the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering (POSHA-S) suggested that speech pathology students exhibit positive attitudes towards people who stutter in comparison to existing international research comprising diverse populations and professions. Although students attributed their positive attitudes to
Ellen Koutsodimitropoulos is a speech pathology master's student at University of Melbourne. She received her Bachelor of Health Sciences Public Health (Honours) from La Trobe University.
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Attitudes toward stuttering of college students in the USA and China: A cross-cultural comparison using the POSHA-S
2024, Journal of Fluency DisordersAustralian speech-language pathologists’ experiences and perceptions of working with children who stutter: A qualitative study
2023, Journal of Fluency DisordersCitation Excerpt :Similarly, Tellis et al., (2008) found that specific training, certification, or experience improves SLP confidence working with CWS. The SLP students in Koutsodimitropoulos et al., (2016) study also emphasised the important role of clinical placements in building confidence for working with PWS. Despite receiving the same theory-based learning about stuttering, the student SLPs in that study who had not completed a fluency placement felt less prepared to work with PWS than those who had placement experience.
Australian attitudes towards stuttering: A cross-sectional study
2021, Journal of Fluency DisordersCitation Excerpt :Approximately 80 % of respondents believed people who stutter were self-conscious. In 2016, a study of 13 participants sought to identify the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, stuttering held by final year speech pathology students at an Australian university (Koutsodimitropoulos, Buultjens, St. Louis, & Monfries, 2016). That study employed a mixed-method design and utilised the POSHA-S. Qualitative data were also gathered through semi-structured interviews to obtain a more in-depth understanding of participant attitudes.
Societal knowledge of stuttering in Saudi population
2021, Saudi Journal of Biological SciencesCitation Excerpt :Previous research studies showed that articulation defects and stuttering occurred more frequently in the younger ages and in boys more so than in girls. Also, association of the disturbances in intellectual, neurological aspects as well as handedness occurred rarely in PWS (Vanryckeghem et al., 2001; Fonseca and Nunes, 2013; Koutsodimitropoulos et al., 2016; Louis et al., 2016). In this questionnaire-based study, the participants of both genders believed that more than 6% of the Saudi population is suffering from stutter which significantly increased in men than women.
Attitudes of communication sciences and disorders students at Jordan university of science and technology toward stuttering and people who stutter
2018, Communication Sciences and DisordersDigital guest speakers who stutter: Student perceptions of videoconferencing within a fluency disorders course
2017, Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders
Ellen Koutsodimitropoulos is a speech pathology master's student at University of Melbourne. She received her Bachelor of Health Sciences Public Health (Honours) from La Trobe University.
Melissa Buultjens, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the school of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include fluency disorders, clinician perceptions and psychosocial factors influencing treatment outcomes.
Kenneth O. St. Louis, Ph.D., founder of the International Project on Attitudes Towards Human Attributes, has carried out research on attitudes of clinicians and the general public towards stuttering and other potentially stigmatising conditions. He has published on numerous aspects of stuttering and cluttering for more than 40 years.
Melissa Monfries, Ph.D is a senior lecturer at Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia and teaches and supervises in the Postgraduate Counselling psychology programmes. She is a practicing Counselling and Clinical Psychologist with a special interest in attachment issues.