The Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs About Stuttering Scale-Revised (UTBAS-R): Streamlining a cognitions checklist

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• The Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs About Stuttering Scale (UTBAS) is a 198-item measure for adults who stutter.
• Its length presents practical challenges in clinical and research settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the redundancy of UTBAS subscales.
• To develop a shorter, more practical version of the UTBAS.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of UTBAS data from the Australian Stuttering Research Centre database.
• Two studies were conducted: Study 1 examined subscale correlations; Study 2 used item-response theory and item analysis to reduce item count.

Main Results:

• Study 1 found strong correlations between UTBAS subscales (r ≥ 0.88), indicating redundancy.
• Study 2 identified items with floor/ceiling effects, high correlations, and poor fit, leading to the selection of 20 items.

Conclusions:

• The second and third subscales, along with 46 items, are redundant.
• A preliminary revised UTBAS (UTBAS-R) with 20 items and one subscale is proposed.