Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy

Advisor/Mentor

Bowers, Andrew

Committee Member

Bowers, Lisa M.

Second Committee Member

Glade, Rachel

Keywords

Interoceptive awareness; Stuttering; Measures of stuttering

Abstract

Stuttering is commonly described as a disorder of speech fluency characterized by primary speech behaviors that are judged by external observers to be typical of stuttering, including part-word repetitions, prolongations, and blocks (i.e., silent prolongations or postural fixations). Despite wide use in the field of speech-pathology, definitions focusing on these ‘primary’ behaviors have also been criticized as ‘surface’ or ‘perceptual’ definitions that favor the experience of a listener over that of the speaker. Recent qualitative evidence suggests that, when asked, adults who stutter (AWS) instead define stuttering as an internal feeling or awareness of being ‘stuck’ that is surrounded by cognitive, affective, and action-related responses to stuttering. The current study is an exploration of stuttering informed by phenomenological analysis and a psychological construct known as interoceptive (i.e., internal) awareness. The first goal of the study was to explore how AWS define and describe their experience of stuttering and fluency. The second goal was to describe what percentage of participants indicate an experience of stuttering consistent with the construct of interoceptive awareness as distinct from surface features. Toward that goal, a survey was distributed using social media and snowball sampling methods. Participants were first asked to answer the following open-ended questions: 1) How would you define the term stuttering?, 2) How would you describe what stuttering feels like?, 3) How would you describe what fluency feels like? Following open-ended questions, AWS were asked to answer yes/no and Lickert scale follow-up items informed by an interoceptive awareness questionnaire known as the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2). Preliminary analysis of open-ended response using phenomenological methodology and descriptive statistics of yes/no and Lickert scale responses were employed to characterize how AWS experience an internal awareness of stuttering. Phenomenological analysis suggests that participants can describe an experience of both stuttering and fluency as an internal awareness distinct from surface features of stuttering, characterized by a feeling of loss of agency in speech/language execution. Descriptive statistics further suggest that most participants (80-90%) indicate experiencing an emergent awareness of stuttering as a loss of agency that is distinct from surface features. As such, results suggest that construction and validation of a stuttering interoceptive awareness questionnaire may be promising way provide an internal measure of stuttering in the future. Conclusions are discussed in the context of limitations inherent in the preliminary qualitative analysis and the explorative survey approach employed in this study.

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