Correlation between stuttering severity and social phobia in an Egyptian stuttering sample

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Medical Studies-Faculty of postgraduate childhood studies-Ain Shams University

2 Medical studies department, Faculty of Postgraduate Childhood Studies, Ain Shams University Cairo, Egypt

3 Okasha Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to correlate between the severity of stuttering and social phobia in an Egyptian
stuttering sample for a better therapeutic plan.
Patients and Methods: Stuttering severity index-Arabic version (ASSI) and the Brief Social Phobia Scale (BSPS) were
applied on 33 Egyptian sample who stutter with age range from15-23 years old, 14 subjects were adolescents and 19 were
adults. Twenty-three were males and ten females. The sample included3 with very mild stuttering, 3 mild stuttering,10
moderate stuttering, 12 severe stuttering and 5 very severe stuttering according to the stuttering severity index-Arabic
version (ASSI).
Results: The Pearson’s Correlation test revealed a strong correlation between fear, avoidance, physical symptoms and
stuttering severity in the whole sample, p value= 0.000, p value=0.001, p value=0.001respectively. As well as there
was a strong correlation between fear, avoidance, physical symptoms and stuttering severity in the adolescent’s sample,
p value= 0.003, p value=0.010, p value=0.004 respectively.
There was a strong correlation between fear, avoidance, physical symptoms and stuttering severity in the adult’s sample,
p value= 0.013, p value=0.042, p value=0.078 respectively.
Conclusion: These findings provide a strong correlation between fear, avoidance, physical symptoms, and stuttering
severity in the whole sample. Accordingly, such data could assist phoniatricians, speech-language pathologists and
psychiatrists for a better therapeutic intervention.

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Main Subjects