دانلود مقاله ISI انگلیسی شماره 33465
ترجمه فارسی عنوان مقاله

پژوهش اکتشافی در اندازه گیری و اصلاح نگرش نسبت به لکنت زبان

عنوان انگلیسی
Exploratory research in the measurement and modification of attitudes toward stuttering
کد مقاله سال انتشار تعداد صفحات مقاله انگلیسی
33465 2001 12 صفحه PDF
منبع

Publisher : Elsevier - Science Direct (الزویر - ساینس دایرکت)

Journal : Journal of Fluency Disorders, Volume 26, Issue 2, Summer 2001, Pages 149–160

ترجمه کلمات کلیدی
لکنت زبان - مستند ویدئو - نگرش - کلیشه -
کلمات کلیدی انگلیسی
Stuttering; Video documentaries; Attitudes; Stereotypes
پیش نمایش مقاله
پیش نمایش مقاله  پژوهش اکتشافی در اندازه گیری و اصلاح نگرش نسبت به لکنت زبان

چکیده انگلیسی

Past studies attempting to both measure and change stuttering stereotypes using semantic differential scales have indicated that clinicians' attitudes toward stuttering have been negative, robust, and resistant to change. This study measured changes in clinicians' attitudes after viewing either a factual video depicting the fluency-evoking effects of altered auditory feedback or an emotionally insightful video depicting the negative social consequences of stuttering. Two groups of graduate speech-language pathology clinicians took part in this ABA study design measuring participant responses to the two videos. Twenty-one participants completed surveys before and after viewing an emotional documentary depicting the life of a young girl who stutters. Another group of 34 graduate clinicians completed surveys before and after viewing a brief factual video exhibiting the immediate amelioration of stuttering behaviors at both normal and fast speaking rates while under the effects of altered auditory feedback. While post-testing results indicated that both of these documentaries were associated with a few changes in perceptions of stuttering, such changes were subtle. Moreover, the few significant perceptual changes found cannot be considered a noteworthy success in modifying graduate clinicians' perceptions of stuttering so that they better resemble the stuttering population described by prior psychological and stuttering research. Future research, along with the fate of current and past methodologies attempting to change the negative stuttering stereotype, is discussed. Educational objectives (1) Readers will become familiarized with the negative stereotypes of persons who stutter; (2) readers will become familiarized with research attempting to modify negative perceptions of people who stutter; and (3) readers will become familiarized with possible explanations for the persistence of negative stuttering stereotypes.

مقدمه انگلیسی

Research has shown that many populations hold negative stereotypes toward persons who stutter. These stereotypes include the belief that people who stutter are generally quiet, reticent, guarded, avoiding, introverted, passive, self-derogatory, anxious, tense, nervous, and afraid Crow & Cooper, 1977, Fowlie & Cooper, 1978 and Woods & Williams, 1976. These stereotyped beliefs are held by speech-language pathologists and speech-language pathology students Cooper & Cooper, 1982, Cooper & Cooper, 1985, Cooper & Rustin, 1985, Kalinowski et al., 1993, Lass et al., 1989, Leahy, 1994, St. Louis & Lass, 1981, Turnbaugh et al., 1979, Woods & Williams, 1971 and Yairi & Williams, 1970, teachers and special educators Crow & Walton, 1981, Lass et al., 1992, Lass et al., 1994, Ruscello et al., 1994, Silverman & Marik, 1993 and Yeakle & Cooper, 1986, parents Crow & Cooper, 1977, Fowlie & Cooper, 1978 and Woods & Williams, 1976, employers and vocational counselors Craig & Calver, 1991, Just & Cooper, 1983 and Silverman & Paynter, 1990, and people who stutter themselves Kalinowski et al., 1987 and Lass et al., 1995. While negative stereotypes of people who stutter are both common and accepted, psychological data do not support the presence of distinctive or common negative personality traits found within the stuttering population. An expansive literature review including psychological research and personal evaluations of the stuttering population concluded that people who stutter are not “distinctly neurotic or severely maladjusted,” do not seem to carry common “character structure or broad set of basic personality traits,” and appear to fall within normal ranges of personal adjustment (Bloodstein, 1995, p. 236). While an intuitive argument could be made that people who stutter are less socially adjusted than fluent speakers, or that people who stutter have common distinct personality traits, results from an assortment of psychological studies remain inconclusive (Bloodstein, 1995, p. 237). Despite the lack of empirical data supporting the commonly held negative perceptions of the stuttering population, these notions persist and are pervasive in our culture, with no substantive successes in making the stuttering stereotype more congruent with the psychological research literature. Past research suggests that negative stereotypes of people who stutter remain intact regardless of personal exposure or family relationship to stuttering Doody et al., 1993, Leahy, 1994 and McGee et al., 1996. Doody et al. (1993) surveyed 106 members in three small, rural communities in Newfoundland, Canada using a 25-item semantic differential scale (Woods & Williams, 1976). Those surveyed were asked to rate both “a hypothetical adult male stutterer” and “a hypothetical adult male nonstutterer.” Results indicated that negative stereotypes of people who stutter were present even though 85% of those surveyed reported knowing at least one person who stutters, and 39% of the studied participants reported a familial relation with a person who stutters. These results suggest that those negative stereotypes and perceptions of persons who stutter are both stable and persistent despite personal exposure or familial relation to stuttering behaviors and to people who stutter. In another study measuring perceptions of people who stutter, Leahy (1994) found that negative perceptions held toward persons who stutter were relatively immutable despite education and exposure to stuttering. Students enrolled in a speech-language pathology graduate program took part in a pre/post-test study design using a semantic differential scale composed of 11 constructs which examined perceived character traits of persons who stutter. The academic work was designed to favorably modify the clinicians' perceptions toward people who stutter through a comprehensive educational itinerary, including classes and lectures dealing with stuttering, information regarding stuttering research, and direct involvement in clinical experiences and therapy (i.e., both group and individual). Upon completion of this trial, student clinicians involved in group therapy experiences considered people who stutter to be even more nervous, tense, and reticent than before. Results of this study indicated that perceptions of people who stutter became more negative after a year of deliberate conditions manipulating both educational and personal interactions with people who stutter; thus, attempts to change graduate clinicians' perceptions failed to show congruence with the psychological data from the stuttering population. McGee et al. (1996) used a 25-item semantic differential scale (Woods & Williams, 1976) to measure participating high school students' perceptions toward people who stutter before and after viewing the documentary Voices to Remember Bondarenko, 1992a and Bondarenko, 1992b. The purpose of the study was to determine if the video, a poignant and emotional documentary, was effective in changing a group of high school students' perceptions of “a hypothetical male stutterer” to become more congruent with the psychological data from the stuttering population. However, the participants' existing negative perceptions of the “hypothetical male stutterer” became more negative after viewing the documentary. Specifically, participants believed that people who stutter are more self-derogatory, fearful, inflexible, withdrawn, and reticent after viewing Voices to Remember. This study suggests that this documentary alone was insufficient in promoting the participants' perceptual changes, as measured by a 25-item semantic differential scale (Woods & Williams, 1976), to better resemble psychological data representing the stuttering population. Researches by Doody et al. (1993), Leahy (1994), and McGee et al. (1996) have examined the perceived character traits of people who stutter. These studies indicated that the perceptions of people who stutter are generally negative and not easily changed; if these negative stereotypes are altered, they become more negative than before. Results from these studies suggest that personal exposure, family relations, factual information, and emotional information may be insufficient in changing the commonly held negative perceptions and stereotypes of people who stutter to better reflect the lives and personalities of people who stutter as compiled by Bloodstein (1995). This study differs from the previously mentioned research with the use of the measurement instrument, “Clinicians' Attitudes Toward Stuttering” (CATS; Cooper, 1975), which is considered to assess a broad scope of insights pertaining to the stuttering disorder, rather than a semantic differential scale that solely measures perceived personality characteristics. By using the CATS as the measurement instrument, it is predicted that different perceptual changes of stuttering will be discovered when compared to results from other semantic differential scales. This research also differs from past studies as two types of stimuli are used to modify student clinicians' attitudes toward stuttering. The video documentaries, Speaking of Courage Bondarenko, 1992a and Bondarenko, 1992b and Effects of Altered Auditory Feedback at Fast and Normal Speaking Rates (AAF; Keith & Kuhn, 1996), differ in their portrayal of stuttering; Speaking of Courage has emotional content, while the video documentary Effects of Altered Auditory Feedback at Fast and Normal Speaking Rates merely shows the results of altered auditory feedback on persons who stutter. The purpose of this research is to determine if brief video documentaries, either emotional or factual in content, can change graduate student clinicians' perceptions of stuttering as measured by the CATS.

نتیجه گیری انگلیسی

This study showed that perceptual changes regarding stuttering are possible, but the few perceptual changes found were all subtle. In fact, it could be argued that the significant differences that were found are actually artifacts of the measurement instrument's reliability and not reliable perceptual changes at all. Regardless, this research does support previous findings that persons' perceptions of stuttering are relatively stable and resistant to change. Although numerous studies using different stimuli, methodologies, and measurement instruments have been completed, none has provided changes in perceptions that better resemble stuttering and the stuttering population. Why have such attempts at modifying perceptions of stuttering and the stuttering population been unsuccessful? Perhaps, measurement instruments have not been sufficiently sensitive to record subtle modifications in the stuttering stereotype, or perhaps the stimuli used (education, exposure, emotional information, and factual information) do not affect the stuttering stereotype. At this point, it seems highly unlikely that future studies using similar methodologies, measurement instruments, and stimuli will produce significantly different results than those already found. Instead of continuing a line of research that has yet to produce significant improvements in negative perceptions of stuttering, future research should consider using different stimuli and measurement instruments. Future research may want to test the notions of White and Collins (1984) by measuring listeners' visceral reactions to stuttering behaviors by monitoring their psychophysiological responses. A research paradigm that quantifies subjects' physical reactions to stuttering behaviors could bypass the inherent problems of surveys, perceptual measurements, and stimulus content altogether. Such a perspective might lead to studying the correlation of psychophysiological responses to stuttering and perceptual measurements, the measurement of psychophysiological responses when exposed to different stuttering severities and situations, or the measurement of psychophysiological responses when persons who stutter acknowledge their stuttering behaviors (Collins & Blood, 1990).