Habit Reversal to Decrease Filled Pauses in Public Speaking: A Partial Replication

Abstract

Purpose: Many students have difficulties in public speaking because of their use of filled pauses (e.g., utterances like “um”; misuse of the word “like”). Mancuso and Miltenberger used habit reversal to decrease filled pauses in public speaking. The present study aimed at replicating this study as a student project. Method: Participants were four undergraduate students of social work. The training phase and total number of sessions were shortened compared to the original study. Results: The mean number of responses (filled pauses) per minute decreased throughout the study and during follow-up measurement. Discussion: Nevertheless, the replication of experimental control wasn’t successful because three of the four participants showed a decrease in response frequency already during the baseline. As a project, the study demonstrates that students of social work with only rudimentary training in single systems research methods can implement evidence-based practice procedures in their work with clients.