Attitudes of general population towards stuttering

Pojam mucanje odnosi se na poremećaj tečnosti govora, ali i kompleksan sindrom kojemu su netečnosti u govoru samo jedna od mnogih karakteristika. Nerijetko narušava svakodnevne komunikacijske situacije, stoga je pogodan objekt kritiziranja i osuđivanja. Cilj je ovog rada istražiti stavove opće populacije Republike Hrvatske o mucanju i osobama koje mucaju te utvrditi postojanje razlika u stavovima s obzirom na određene sociodemografske karakteristike ispitanika i s obzirom na dob osobe koja muca. Za procjenu stavova na komponenti Osjećaji, Vjerovanja i Znanja korišten je upitnik kreiran za potrebe ovog istraživanja, koje je provedeno online putem. Odgovori su se označavali na Likertovoj skali bodovima od 1 do 5. U istraživanju su sudjelovala 472 ispitanika. Prikupljeni podatci obrađeni su deskriptivnom analizom i parametrijskim testovima u računalnom programu IBM SPSS Statistics. Dobiveni rezultati utvrdili su postojanje pozitivnijih stavova prema mucanju i osobama koje mucaju kod mlađih skupina ispitanika, žena, stanovnika Istre, Primorja i Gorskog kotara te Zagreba i okolice, ispitanika višeg stupnja obrazovanja te ispitanika koji imaju iskustvo mucanja ili poznavanja osobe koja muca. Nisu pronađene razlike u stavovima s obzirom na područje djelatnosti ispitanika. Također, utvrđeni su pozitivniji stavovi prema odraslim osobama koje mucaju nego prema djeci koja mucaju. Pronađene razlike treba prihvatiti s oprezom zbog malog broja ispitanika u pojedinim analiziranim skupinama te povremenog utvrđivanja statistički značajnih, ali vrlo malih razlika. Povećanje svjesnosti o ovom poremećaju moglo bi dovesti do pozitivnijih stavova o mucanju i snažnijeg društvenog prihvaćanja osoba koje mucaju.The term stuttering refers to a speech fluency disorder, but also a complex syndrome in which speech disfluencies are only one of many characteristics. It often disturbs everyday communication situations and that is why it is such a suitable object of criticism and condemnation. The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of general population of the Republic of Croatia towards stuttering and people who stutter and to determine the existence of differences in attitudes considering certain sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and considering the age of the person who stutters. A questionnaire created for the purposes of this research was used to evaluate attitudes on three components named Feelings, Beliefs and Knowledge. The research was conducted online and 472 respondents participated. The answers were marked on the Likert scale with points from 1 to 5. The collected data was processed by descriptive analysis and parametric tests in the IBM SPSS Statistics computer program. The obtained results determined the existence of more positive attitudes towards stuttering and people who stutter among younger groups of respondents, women, inhabitants od Istria, Littoral and Gorski Kotar and also Zagreb and its surroundings, respondents with a higher level of education and respondents who stutter or know the person who stutters. No differences in attitudes were found considering the career field of the respondents. Furthermore, more positive attitudes towards adults who stutter than towards children who stutter were found. The found differences should be accepted with caution due to the small number of respondents in some analyzed groups and occasionally established statistically significant but very small differences. Raising awareness of this disorder could lead to more positive attitudes towards stuttering and stronger social acceptance of people who stutter