Don’t be too apologetic: disclosing communication difficulties
Reviewed by Anna Volkmer

People who stutter are frequently considered less intelligent or less confident, and are often discriminated against. These negative perceptions have been found to differ slightly across different cultural groups. For Hebrew speakers in Israel, having a stutter can have a negative impact on quality of life. Self-disclosure of a stutter has been used as a tool to negate these stereotypes, but few studies have examined perception of disclosure. This study aimed to compare the influence of type of disclosure or no disclosure on perceptions of Hebrew-speaking people who stutter and compare this with similar US-based studies. Ninety-two participants watched a video of a male or female speaker providing an informative or apologetic disclosure or no disclosure. Responses were collected using a survey. This study found a significant main effect for disclosure condition, with speakers who self-disclosed in an informative manner being perceived more favourably than the apologetic disclosure or no disclosure. On comparison with the US-based study, Israeli respondents were more focused on perceptions of outgoingness than factors such as confidence or friendliness. Females who stutter were perceived less favourably in this study. Gender and culture are important when clinicians might be considering recommendation of self-disclosure as a therapeutic tool. This issue is relevant across communication disorders and many more healthcare conditions, and we must be sensitive to these very real and ongoing barriers.

Does the clinical utility of self- disclosure of stuttering transcend culturally and linguistically diverse populations?
Croft RL, Byrd CT.
INT J SPEECH-LANG PATHOL
2021;23(5):548-58.