Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Envisioning Possibilities for the Future 2025 ASHA Convention, Washington, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 20 - 22 Kasım 2025, ss.185, (Özet Bildiri)
Stuttering is a multidimensional and complex communication disorder that usually begins in early childhood and is characterised by involuntary interruptions in speech fluency (Bloodstein & Bernstein Ratner, 2008). This disorder can profoundly affect not only language production but also the individual's social relationships, self-perception and general psychological well-being. In particular, the necessity to speak in social settings triggers intense social evaluation anxiety in individuals with stuttering, which increases the risk of developing social anxiety disorder. Indeed, it has been reported that approximately 40% of individuals with chronic stuttering meet the diagnostic criteria for social phobia (Blumgart, Tran & Craig, 2010). In addition to social anxiety, it has been observed that individuals with stuttering have low levels of self-compassion. This may cause individuals to develop a more critical and harsh attitude towards themselves in the face of the difficulties they experience (Salehpoor, Yousefi & Golparvar, 2023). Self-compassion is defined as the individual's understanding of himself/herself in the face of challenging life events, experiencing a sense of common humanity and developing a non-judgemental awareness (Neff, 2003). In the literature, it has been shown that interventions to increase the level of self-compassion are effective in reducing both social anxiety and depressive symptoms and strengthen the psychological resilience of the individual. In addition, the finding of a significant negative relationship between stuttering severity and self-compassion in individuals with stuttering reveals the importance of integrating self-compassion-based approaches into therapy processes (Croft & Byrd, 2024). In this context, stuttering is not only a disorder that affects speech production; it is a psychosocial condition that has a wide range of effects on the individual's social interactions, self-perception and psychological functioning (Kraaimaat, Vanryckeghem & Van Dam-Baggen, 2002). This study aims to examine the relationships between self-compassion, social anxiety and depression in individuals with stuttering. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between self-compassion, social anxiety, and depression in individuals with stuttering, and the relational screening model was adopted within the framework of quantitative research methods. The study group consisted of individuals whose native language was Turkish, who were between the ages of 18 and 60 and whose speech disfluency rate was 3% or more (%SD). Individuals with a history of neurological or psychiatric illness were excluded from the study. The sample size was calculated using the G*Power 3.1.9.7 program for the correlation test and was determined as a minimum of 27 participants at 95% statistical power level. Three different scales were used in the data collection process. The Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (Yıldırım & Sarı, 2018) was used to assess individuals' understanding and accepting attitudes towards themselves, the Social Anxiety Scale Short Form (Can & Bozgün, 2021) was used to measure the anxiety they experience in social environments, and the Brief Beck Depression Inventory (Özdemir & Dağdeviren, 2024) was used to determine their depression levels. IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 software was used to analyse the data. Firstly, the normality assumption was checked by evaluating the distribution characteristics of the data with the Shapiro-Wilk test. The relationships between the variables were analysed by Spearman correlation test. The significance level was accepted as .05 in all statistical tests (p < .05). The findings of the study revealed that self-compassion levels decreased significantly as social anxiety and depression levels increased in individuals with stuttering. It was concluded that self-compassion functions as a protective psychological factor for these individuals and may play an important role in supporting psychological well-being. Accordingly, it is suggested that self-compassion-based approaches should be integrated into holistic therapy practices in intervention program for professionals working with stuttering.