The Effects of Disclosure on University Students' Perceptions of a Person With Aphasia

Persons with aphasia (PWA) often have increased difficulty interacting with unfamiliar communicative partners, which can result in negative perceptions among listeners. However, self-disclosure of the disorder can allow for the empowerment of the individual and increased understanding of the situation for the listener.

Towards that end, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of self-disclosure, other-mediated disclosure, and no disclosure on the listeners' perceptions of the PWA's speech skills and personality characteristics.

An adult female diagnosed with aphasia served as the speaker in the study. The listeners were 201 undergraduate students majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. There were 67 students in self-disclosure condition (i.e., the PWA gave a verbal disclosure statement prior to her videotaped conversation with the examiner), 68 students in the other-mediated disclosure condition (i.e., the examiner disclosed for the PWA), and 66 students in the no disclosure condition. Students watched one or more video(s), depending on the condition, and then rated the PWA on several speech skills and personality characteristics.

Results revealed that self-disclosure yielded significantly more positive listeners' perceptions than other-mediated disclosure for seven of the 17 traits measured. Furthermore, self-disclosure yielded significantly more positive listeners' perceptions than no disclosure for 13 of the 17 traits measured. The other-mediated disclosure did not yield significantly more positive ratings than the no disclosure condition for any traits measured.

These findings suggest that the use of self-disclosure impacts the listener beyond simply reducing listener uncertainty. This further supports the use of self-disclosure by PWA when feasible.

What is already known on this subject Previous literature revealed that negative listeners' perceptions are common among speakers with communication impairments. Self-disclosure can allow for the empowerment of the individual and increased understanding of the situation for the listener. There is limited research regarding self-disclosure among PWA; however, the research regarding self-disclosure in the field of fluency disorders supports its use to improve listeners' perceptions. What this study adds to existing knowledge This was the first study to evaluate the impact of the source of disclosure (i.e., who exactly is doing the disclosure) on listeners' perceptions of a PWA's speech skills and personality characteristics. Results revealed that there were no significant differences between the other-mediated condition and the no disclosure condition. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this study? Findings suggest that listeners' perceptions might not improve when another individual discloses for the client; this further supports the use of self-disclosure by PWA when feasible. Clinicians can have a major role in teaching the importance of self-disclosure, as well as facilitating its use of self-disclosure among clients.