Elsevier

Journal of Fluency Disorders

Volume 47, March 2016, Pages 38-55
Journal of Fluency Disorders

Speech pathology student clinician attitudes and beliefs towards people who stutter: A mixed-method pilot study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfludis.2015.12.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Mixed-methods research that explores the reasoning behind attitudes and beliefs towards people who stutter.

  • Australian speech pathology students exhibit more positive than average attitudes towards stuttering.

  • Clinical placement plays an important role in facilitating confident student clinicians.

Abstract

Purpose

Stuttering is a disorder of fluency that extends beyond its physical nature and has social, emotional and vocational impacts. Research shows that individuals often exhibit negative attitudes towards people who stutter; however, there is limited research on the attitudes and beliefs of speech pathology students towards people who stutter in Australia. Existing research is predominantly quantitative; whereas this mixed-method study placed an emphasis on the qualitative component. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and beliefs of final year Australian speech pathology students towards people who stutter.

Methods

This mixed-method study applied the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering (POSHA-S) and semi-structured interviews to gather data from final year speech pathology students from a major university in Australia.

Principal results

The overall qualitative findings identified that final year Australian speech pathology students exhibit positive attitudes towards people who stutter. The results also illustrated the role of education in influencing attitudes of students as well as increasing their confidence to work with people who stutter.

Major conclusion

This research revealed that Australian final year speech pathology students exhibit positive attitudes towards people who stutter. They displayed an understanding that people who stutter may have acquired traits such as shyness as a response to their personal situation and environment, rather than those traits being endemic to them. Results also suggested that education can play a role in creating confident student clinicians in their transition to practice, and positively influence their attitudes and beliefs.

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.

References (77)

  • R.M. Gabel

    Effects of stuttering severity and therapy involvement on attitudes towards people who stutter

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2006)
  • R.M. Gabel et al.

    Measuring role entrapment of people who stutter

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2004)
  • E.C. Healey et al.

    The effects of self-disclosure and non self-disclosure of stuttering on listeners’ perceptions of a person who stutters

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2007)
  • S. Hughes et al.

    University students’ explanations for their descriptions of people who stutter: An exploratory mixed model study

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2010)
  • L. Iverach et al.

    Prevalence of anxiety disorders among adults seeking speech therapy for stuttering

    Journal of Anxiety Disorders

    (2009)
  • M. Langevin

    The peer attitudes toward children who stutter scale: Reliability, known groups validity, and negativity of elementary school-age children's attitudes

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2009)
  • I. Mavis et al.

    Attitudes of Turkish speech and language therapists toward stuttering

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2013)
  • W. Murphy et al.

    Enhancing treatment for school-age children who stutter: Reducing negative reactions through desensitization and cognitive restructuring

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2007)
  • S. O’Brian et al.

    Stuttering severity and educational attainment

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2011)
  • R.S. Ozdemir et al.

    Public attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey: Probability versus convenience sampling

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2011)
  • J. Panico et al.

    Listener perceptions of stuttering across two presentation modes: A quantitative and qualitative approach

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2005)
  • L. Plexico et al.

    Coping responses by adults who stutter: Part II. Approaching the problem and achieving agency

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2009)
  • G. Snyder

    Exploratory research in the measurement and modification of attitudes toward stuttering

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2001)
  • K.O. St. Louis

    The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S): Summary framework and empirical comparisons

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2011)
  • K.O. St. Louis

    Male versus female attitudes toward stuttering

    Journal of Communication Disorders

    (2012)
  • K.O. St. Louis et al.

    Stuttering attitudes of students: Professional, intracultural, and international comparisons

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2014)
  • K.O. St. Louis et al.

    Measuring attitudes toward stuttering: English-to-French translations in Canada and Cameroon

    Journal of Communication Disorders

    (2010)
  • M.E. Weidner et al.

    Attitudes toward stuttering of nonstuttering preschool and kindergarten children: A comparison using a standard instrument prototype

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2015)
  • J. Beilby et al.

    The impact of a stuttering disorder on Western Australian children and adolescents

    Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders

    (2012)
  • L. Benaquisto

    Open coding

  • M.P. Boyle et al.

    Stigma and stuttering: Conceptualizations, applications, and coping

  • G. Bricker-Katz et al.

    Older people who stutter: Barriers to communication and perceptions of treatment needs

    International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders

    (2010)
  • C. Büchel et al.

    What causes stuttering?

    PLoS Biology

    (2004)
  • C.R. Collins et al.

    Acknowledgment and severity of stuttering as factors influencing nonstutterers’ perceptions of stutterers

    Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders

    (1990)
  • I. Crichton-Smith et al.

    Attitudes of speech and language therapists towards stammering: 1985 and 2000

    International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders

    (2003)
  • A.R. Craig et al.

    Stereotypes towards stuttering for those who have never had direct contact with people who stutter: A randomised and stratified study

    Perceptual and Motor Skills

    (2003)
  • D. Drayna et al.

    Genetic approaches to understanding the causes of stuttering

    Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders

    (2011)
  • T. Flynn et al.

    Changing adolescent attitudes toward stuttering

    Journal of Fluency Disorders

    (2011)
  • Cited by (6)

    • Australian speech-language pathologists’ experiences and perceptions of working with children who stutter: A qualitative study

      2023, Journal of Fluency Disorders
      Citation 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 Disorders
      Citation 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 Sciences
      Citation 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.

    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.

    View full text