Developing assertiveness during employment interviews with young adults who stutter

Assertiveness training procedures have been demonstrated to be effective in working with a variety of clinical populations. Persons who stutter represent a group for whom assertiveness skills may be particularly useful. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of an assertiveness training program that included instruction, modeling, behavior rehearsal, feedback, social reinforcement, and homework. Dependent variables included putting the employer at ease, corrective feedback for interrupting, responding to pejorative statements, and acknowledging positive employer behaviors. The results indicated substantial increases in the target behaviors as well as improvements in subjective ratings of baseline and posttraining interviews. A collateral benefit was a sizable posttraining decrease in the amount of stuttering. These results are discussed with reference to future research isolating the influence of assertiveness skills on stuttering.