Ana Rita S Valente1, Kenneth O St Louis2, Margaret Leahy3, Andreia Hall4, Luis M T Jesus5. 1. Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA) University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Education and Psychology (DEP) University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal. 2. Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA. 3. Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. 4. CIDMA - Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications, Department of Mathematics University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal. 5. Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA) University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; School of Health Sciences (ESSUA) University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal. Electronic address: lmtj@ua.pt.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Negative public attitudes toward stuttering have been widely reported, although differences among countries and regions exist. Clear reasons for these differences remain obscure. PURPOSE: Published research is unavailable on public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugal as well as a representative sample that explores stuttering attitudes in an entire country. This study sought to (a) determine the feasibility of a country-wide probability sampling scheme to measure public stuttering attitudes in Portugal using a standard instrument (the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering [POSHA-S]) and (b) identify demographic variables that predict Portuguese attitudes. METHODS: The POSHA-S was translated to European Portuguese through a five-step process. Thereafter, a local administrative office-based, three-stage, cluster, probability sampling scheme was carried out to obtain 311 adult respondents who filled out the questionnaire. RESULTS: The Portuguese population held stuttering attitudes that were generally within the average range of those observed from numerous previous POSHA-S samples. Demographic variables that predicted more versus less positive stuttering attitudes were respondents' age, region of the country, years of school completed, working situation, and number of languages spoken. Non-predicting variables were respondents' sex, marital status, and parental status. CONCLUSION: A local administrative office-based, probability sampling scheme generated a respondent profile similar to census data and indicated that Portuguese attitudes are generally typical.
BACKGROUND: Negative public attitudes toward stuttering have been widely reported, although differences among countries and regions exist. Clear reasons for these differences remain obscure. PURPOSE: Published research is unavailable on public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugal as well as a representative sample that explores stuttering attitudes in an entire country. This study sought to (a) determine the feasibility of a country-wide probability sampling scheme to measure public stuttering attitudes in Portugal using a standard instrument (the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering [POSHA-S]) and (b) identify demographic variables that predict Portuguese attitudes. METHODS: The POSHA-S was translated to European Portuguese through a five-step process. Thereafter, a local administrative office-based, three-stage, cluster, probability sampling scheme was carried out to obtain 311 adult respondents who filled out the questionnaire. RESULTS: The Portuguese population held stuttering attitudes that were generally within the average range of those observed from numerous previous POSHA-S samples. Demographic variables that predicted more versus less positive stuttering attitudes were respondents' age, region of the country, years of school completed, working situation, and number of languages spoken. Non-predicting variables were respondents' sex, marital status, and parental status. CONCLUSION: A local administrative office-based, probability sampling scheme generated a respondent profile similar to census data and indicated that Portuguese attitudes are generally typical.