Developing assertiveness during employment interviews with young adults who stutter.

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Assertiveness training is effective for diverse clinical groups.
• Individuals who stutter may benefit from enhanced assertiveness skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an assertiveness training program for people who stutter.
• To assess the program's impact on specific social behaviors and stuttering.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive assertiveness training program was implemented.
• Key components included instruction, modeling, rehearsal, feedback, reinforcement, and homework.
• Dependent variables focused on workplace social interactions and subjective ratings.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in target assertive behaviors were observed.
• Subjective improvements in interviews were reported post-training.
• A notable decrease in stuttering frequency occurred as a collateral benefit.

Conclusions:

• Assertiveness training is a viable intervention for improving social skills in individuals who stutter.
• The positive impact on stuttering warrants further investigation into the relationship between assertiveness and fluency.