Changing college student attitudes toward people who stutter

Background Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency “in which a speaker typically repeats or prolongs parts of words or gets stuck on words.” (St. Louis, 2012a). Consequently, people who stutter (PWS) usually have difficulty expressing their thoughts verbally. PWS may experience difficulties participating fully in society due to self-perceived or societal barriers. The attitudes of people who do not stutter toward PWS are important in understanding the types and degree of barriers in PWS’ lives. Extensive research has been completed on attitudes about PWS, yet limited evidence describes how to best modify college student attitudes toward PWS. Changes in attitudes toward PWS have been shown to change in a positive direction following an intervention about stuttering. Podcasting is a relatively new format of communication where personal stories can be shared in brief format. Utilizing a podcast to expose listeners to stuttering has the potential to influence a powerful change in attitudes of college students towards PWS by allowing them to hear the voice and personal story of a PWS. Aim The purpose of this study was to identify and examine whether college students who do not stutter exhibit an attitude change toward PWS when participating in: a) an emotional, humorous, and educational podcast or b) a written dictation of the same podcast. In addition, we examined if attitude changes are similar across these two formats and how the attitudes of students in the present study towards PWS compared with other student groups in the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering (POSHA-S) international database. Method and Procedure Thirty-nine college students participated in this quasi-experimental group study. One class of students listened to a 30-minute podcast interview in class and the control group read a written dictation of the podcast in class. Participant attitudes of stuttering were measured one week prior to and one week following the intervention using the POSHA-S. Immediately after the intervention, participants completed select questions from a subscale section of the POSHA-S related to Self-Reaction towards PWS. Statistical analysis was completed comparing pre-post outcomes for individuals and groups