Profiles of public attitude change regarding stuttering

Abstract

Purpose: A growing number of studies have sought to reduce negative public attitudes toward stuttering in pre-test/post-test designs using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S). Most investigations have succeeded in improving attitudes, but about one-third of them have not. A previous companion study showed that intervention — but not demographic — characteristics of samples partly predicted success. Method: Authors investigated individual profiles and predictors of change in nonstuttering individuals’ attitudes from pre-test to post-test after exposure to interventions or no intervention. Using pre- versus post-POSHA-S mean ratings from different samples (representing 7 countries and 6 languages) 29 samples comprising 934 respondents were categorized into four categories of intervention success from “unsuccessful” to “very successful.” These were compared to 12 pre and post non-intervention samples containing 345 respondents from a second companion study. Within categories, the individual respondents were sorted according to positive, minimal, or negative changes from pre- to post-tests on the POSHA-S Overall Stuttering Score (OSS). The non-intervention category served as a baseline for determining the effects of interventions on respondents who improved, worsened, or remained the same. Results: As in the previous non-intervention category, within all intervention categories, an unexpected and heretofore undocumented “crossover” effect emerged. Respondents with the least positive pre attitudes improved greatly, and respondents with the most positive attitudes worsened greatly. Those with intermediate attitudes changed minimally. The percentage of respondents changing positively differentiated levels of success in the intervention categories, while the magnitude of mean change did not. Potential predictors in positive and negative changers were not apparent from POSHA-S demographic and attitude variables. Implications: Future interventions to improve stuttering attitudes should address their relatively unstable nature and be targeted differentially to positive, minimal, and negative changers.

Keywords

Stuttering / Changing public attitudes / POSHA-S / Unique profiles / International / “Crossover” effect

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Kia N. Johnson: Investigation. Salman Abdi: Investigation. Lejla Junuzović-Žunić: Writing-review & editing, Investigation. Elizabeth (Fisher) Aliveto: Writing-review & editing, Investigation. Aneta Przepiórka: Investigation. Ann Beste-Guldborg: Investigation. M. Pushpavathi: Investigation. Agata Błachnio: Investigation. Isabella Reichel: Investigation. Hossein Rezai: Investigation. Benjamin Bol-ton-Grant: Investigation. Sarah Eisert: Investigation. Chelsea (Kuhn) Roche: Investigation. Timothy Flynn: Investigation. Sara Spears: Investigation. Sheryl Gottwald: Investigation. Mohyeddin Teimouri Sangani: Investigation. Katarzyna Węsierska: Investigation. Jessica Hartley: Investigation. Kenneth O. St. Louis: Writing-review & editing, Writing-original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Daniel Hudock: Investiga-tion. Fauzia Abdalla: Writing-review & editing, Investigation.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare no financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests. Kenneth O. St. Louis owns the copyright of the POSHA-S.

Data availability

The data that has been used is confidential.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mercedes Ware, Laura Gibson, Brianne Hanlon, Chelsea Heaster, Rebecca Warner, Kailey Holcombe, Joanna Holmes, Claire Rowland, Ahmad Poormohammad, Jocine Gloria Chandrabose, Shabina Roof, Kira Stork, Haley Glover, and Deborah Hendricks.

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