Does the clinical utility of self-disclosure of stuttering transcend culturally and linguistically diverse populations?

Purpose: Research suggests that self-disclosure can improve listeners' perceptions of stuttering; however, it is unknown whether the effectiveness of self-disclosure transcends culture and language. This study examined the clinical utility of self-disclosure in a culturally and linguistically diverse population: Hebrew-speaking people who stutter in Israel.Method: The experimental protocol replicated Byrd, Croft et al. Participants (N = 92 adults in Israel) viewed a video of either a male or female Hebrew-speaking person who simulated stuttering and self-disclosed informatively, apologetically, or not at all. Participants then rated the speaker on ten traits (i.e. friendly, outgoing, intelligent, confident, engaging, distracting, unfriendly, shy, unintelligent, insecure) using a bipolar likert scale.Result: Results indicated that participants rated the speaker who self-disclosed in a neutral and informative manner as significantly more outgoing compared to the speaker who did not self-disclose at all, supporting the results from Byrd, Croft et al. Additionally, the male speaker was rated as significantly more friendly and outgoing than the female speaker.Conclusion: This study suggests that self-disclosing in a neutral and informative manner can improve listeners' perceptions of people who stutter similarly across culture and language.