Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES): Documenting multiple outcomes in stuttering treatment

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Abstract

This paper describes a new instrument for evaluating the experience of the stuttering disorder from the perspective of individuals who stutter. Based on the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health [World Health Organization (2001). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, & Health. Geneva: World Health Organization], the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES) collects information about the totality of the stuttering disorder, including: (a) general perspectives about stuttering, (b) affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions to stuttering, (c) functional communication difficulties, and (d) impact of stuttering on the speaker's quality of life. This paper summarizes scale development, reliability and validity assessment, and scoring procedures so clinicians and researchers can use the OASES to add to the available evidence about the outcomes of a variety of treatment approaches for adults who stutter.

Educational objectives: As a result of this activity, participants will be able to:

  • (1)

    identify key issues related to the documentation of treatment outcomes in stuttering;

  • (2)

    discuss the components of the international classification of functioning, disability, and health as they relate to the documentation of stuttering treatment outcomes;

  • (3)

    evaluate and use a new measurement instrument for assessing the outcomes of stuttering treatment from the perspective of the person who stutters.

Section snippets

The need for broad-based treatment outcomes research in stuttering

Although many authors have shown that stuttering involves more than the behaviors that can be observed on the surface, there are very few studies demonstrating the effects of treatment on these “intrinsic” (Manning, 2001) factors (see reviews in Bloodstein, 1995, Cordes, 1998). The paucity of treatment outcomes research examining the totality of the stuttering disorder makes it difficult for clinicians to apply a strictly evidence-based approach to selecting treatment options (Quesal, Yaruss, &

A framework for describing broad-based treatment outcomes

Although much of the necessary research has not yet been completed, documenting the broad-based outcomes of treatment for a complex disorder such as stuttering is certainly not impossible. Indeed, most disorders (not just in speech–language pathology, but across the entire field of health and rehabilitation science) involve far more than just the symptoms that can easily be observed, counted, or classified. Accordingly, for the past several decades, there has been a growing emphasis on the need

Documenting multiple outcomes in stuttering treatment

In order to facilitate and support broad-based treatment outcomes research in stuttering, Yaruss, 1998a, Yaruss, 1998b, Yaruss, 2001 and Yaruss and Quesal, 2004a, Yaruss and Quesal, 2004b adapted the WHO's original ICIDH and current ICF frameworks to the study of stuttering. Fig. 1 presents a schematized version of the Yaruss and Quesal, 2004a, Yaruss and Quesal, 2004b adaptation, which depicts how the stuttering disorder can be viewed in terms of several interacting components:

  • the presumed

Development and validation of the OASES

Development and validation of the OASES involved several stages, in which test items were individually evaluated, compared to one another, and refined. At the outset of the project, several key principles were defined in order to guide the development process and to ensure that the resulting product would provide a useful tool for supporting treatment outcomes research.

First, it was determined that the final instrument should consist of a pencil-and-paper measure that could be completed by

The Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering

The final version of the OASES consists of 100 items, each scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The instrument, which requires approximately 20 min to complete, is organized into four sections: (a) General Information, (b) Reactions to Stuttering, (c) Communication in Daily Situations, and (d) Quality of Life. Section I (General information) contains 20 items pertaining to speakers’ perceived fluency and speech naturalness, knowledge about stuttering and stuttering therapy, and overall

Discussion

The purpose of this paper has been to present a new instrument for measuring the overall impact of stuttering through assessment of multiple aspects of the disorder. The Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES) seeks to accomplish this goal by focusing on the speaker's experience of stuttering, as defined, in part, by the WHO's ICF framework. Specific factors that are addressed include: the speaker's self-perception of fluency, stuttering, and speech naturalness, as

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to their many colleagues who provided helpful feedback about the OASES and its predecessors and who were instrumental in supporting data collection and analysis. The authors also express their sincere appreciation for the assistance of the National Stuttering Association (NSA) Research Committee for distributing the OASES and for supporting our efforts over the years. Finally, the authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Amy King, Michelle Schaffner, and

J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP is a associate professor of communication science and disorders at the University of Pittsburgh; he is also Co-Director of Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania; and a Clinical Research Consultant, and a Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He conducts NIH-funded research on childhood stuttering; teaches courses on stuttering and counseling skills to SLPs.

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    J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP is a associate professor of communication science and disorders at the University of Pittsburgh; he is also Co-Director of Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania; and a Clinical Research Consultant, and a Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He conducts NIH-funded research on childhood stuttering; teaches courses on stuttering and counseling skills to SLPs.

    Robert W. Quesal, PhD, CCC-SLP is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at the Western Illinois University. He is a board-recognized stuttering specialists and mentor. He conducts research on treatment outcomes measures and teaches courses on fluency disorders, speech science, anatomy, research designed, and voice disorders. He is a former member of the Division 4 Steering Committee.

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