Modifying Attitudes of Arab School Teachers Toward Stuttering

Abstract

Purpose The authors of this quasi-experimental design study explored the effect of an educational documentary video that presented factual and emotional aspects of stuttering on changing attitudes toward stuttering of preservice trainees and in-service public school teachers in Kuwait. Method Participants were 99 preservice trainees (48 control, 51 experimental) and 103 in-service teachers (49 control, 54 experimental). All participants completed 22 items from the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes—Stuttering (POSHA–S; St. Louis, 2005; translated into Arabic) and 17 additional items pre and post treatment. Participants in the experimental group viewed the awareness video. Results Pretreatment comparisons confirmed that the control and experimental groups did not differ on their attitudes toward stuttering. As predicted, the posttreatment ratings for the control group were not different from the pretreatment ratings. A significant shift in attitudes (mostly in a positive direction) from pre to post treatment was observed for the experimental group of preservice trainees but not for the experimental group of in-service teachers. Interpretation of the difference in outcomes for the experimental preservice group as compared to the experimental in-service group is confounded by gender differences across groups. Conclusion The authors of this study demonstrated that it is possible to positively modify preservice trainees' attitudes of people who stutter by using an educational documentary video.