Communicative practices and perceptions towards stuttering people in South Africa.
Rockie Sibanda, Tlou C Mothapo
PMID 38572902WHAT IT FOUND
Four adults who stutter described stigma and avoidance.
Among 20 acquaintances, 15 finished their speech, 18 did not discuss it, and 17 had no knowledge, though all said they communicated normally.
Key findings
01Participants said the barriers they experienced were more about other people's attitudes and impatience than about their own disfluency.
02Among acquaintances, 18 did not discuss stuttering with the person who stutters, 15 finished the speech of someone who stuttered, and 16 thought stuttering was a communication barrier.
03The study found that people who stutter could hold better conversations with people who were more tolerant of their stutter.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only four adults who stuttered and 20 acquaintances, recruited through personal contacts and snowball sampling, so the views may not represent black South Africans generally. The questionnaire was short and self-developed, and its respondents were acquaintances of the interviewees, so their answers may be influenced by their relationship to the participants. The study describes experiences and perceptions, not treatment effects, so it cannot show that any intervention works.
Declared interests
The article states that the research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not generalise from four adults and 20 acquaintances to all black South Africans. The study reports perceptions and experiences, not evidence that any treatment works.