Self-Reported Stuttering Severity Is Accurate: Informing Methods for Large-Scale Data Collection in Stuttering

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Clinical assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Limited data exists on the agreement between self-reported and clinician-rated stuttering severity.
• Self-reported data collection offers potential for large-scale studies due to cost and time efficiencies.
• There is a growing emphasis on understanding the individual's lived experience of their condition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the agreement between self-reported and clinician-rated stuttering severity.
• To determine if self-reported stuttering severity correlates with the subjective impact of stuttering.

Main Methods:

• 195 participants (aged 5-84 years) with self-reported stuttering underwent face-to-face speech assessments.
• Stuttering severity was rated on a 10-point scale by participants and two speech-language pathologists.
• Participants completed the Overall Assessment of the Subjective Experience of Stuttering (OASES).

Main Results:

• A strong positive correlation was found between clinician and participant ratings of stuttering severity.
• Participant-reported stuttering severity showed a weak correlation with OASES domains and overall impact scores.

Conclusions:

• Individuals can accurately self-rate stuttering severity, making it suitable for large-scale data collection.
• Questionnaires like the OASES capture subjective experiences not reflected in severity ratings alone, adding crucial context.