Self-report of self-disclosure statements for stuttering.
Megann McGill, Jordan Siegel, Denise Nguyen and 1 others
PMID 30286946WHAT IT FOUND
Most adults who stutter said their own disclosure statements explained stuttering, but most chose simple statements like 'I stutter' when selecting prewritten options.
They most often disclosed in job interviews and at conversation starts. SLPs reported helping clients with tailored statements that explain stuttering.
Key findings
01Thirty-six adults who stutter provided verbatim self-disclosure statements, and seventeen of 34 responses were coded as educational.
02Twenty-two of 37 participants selected the prewritten statement 'My name is ______ and I'm a person who stutters'.
03SLPs reported that 37% said their clients use educational self-disclosure statements and 33.3% said clients use individualized statements.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and self-selected: 42 adults who stutter and 33 speech-language pathologists, so the wording and contexts may not reflect the wider stuttering community. Recruitment used social media, stuttering web pages, word of mouth, and clients already receiving speech therapy at the authors' university, which may have brought in people already familiar with disclosure. The questionnaire did not ask adults why they chose direct, educational, or apologetic statements. The study did not examine nonverbal disclosure, such as wearing a support-group shirt, or other methods such as voluntary stuttering. The authors did not explore how race, age, socioeconomic status, background, and stuttering intersect with gender. Gender subgroup counts were small, such as 9 women and 33 men, so gender differences should be read cautiously. Verbatim and fixed-choice answers differed, so the questionnaire format affected the reported statement type.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 53% educational verbatim responses as evidence that educational statements are the best choice for every client. Only 10.8% chose the prewritten educational option, and this paper reports questionnaire responses, not a tested intervention with measured outcomes.