A phenomenological exploration of the contextual variability of stuttering

It is well documented that stuttering is contextually variable, as its frequency and duration can vary widely across contexts and emerge from interactions across internal and external factors (i.e., corresponding to the speaker and communication contexts in which a speaker may find themselves, respectively). While much of the previous literature has described contextual variability from listeners' vantage points, there is scant research capturing speaker-centered perspectives. As such, this study explored the beliefs and experiences of 10 people who stutter (PWS) regarding: a) how their stuttering varies; b) potential contributors to its variability; and c) how stuttering variability can impact quality of life.

Ten PWS participated in phenomenological interviews to discuss their lived experiences of stuttering. Analyses of interviews yielded experiential themes and corresponding subthemes encompassing unique and shared insights across participants.

Participants' depictions of contextual variability revealed four broad experiential themes: "randomness and cyclical patterns of stuttering," "internal state factors," "specific cues," and "perceived judgment within social contexts."

The current investigation highlighted various factors that participants felt were associated with stuttering variability based on their lived experiences. Notably, alignment of several findings (e.g., saliency of perceived judgement) with previous conceptualizations of stuttering variability (e.g., concern for social approval) yielded descriptions grounded within speakers' perspectives that contextualized prevailing (i.e., listener-oriented) narratives of stuttering which have been historically dominant across therapy and research. Thus, results from the present study underscored the vital importance of accounting for lived experiences to advance our current understanding of stuttering and contextual variability.