“Perception of parents about their children with stuttering after completing the treatment"

Abstract

Repetition of sounds, syllables, or sentences, prolonging sounds, and blocks of speech interruption are the hallmarks of stuttering, a speech problem. The person who stutters is fully aware of what they want to say but struggles to speak in a natural flow. Struggle behaviors, including quick eye, blink, or lip tremors, may accompany these verbal disturbances. Communication difficulties brought on by stuttering can hurt a person's quality of life and interpersonal connections. Additionally, stuttering can harm opportunities and performance at work, and treatment can be expensive. The aim of the study was to explore parents' perceptions about their children with stuttering after completing the treatment. This study seeks to understand parents’ knowledge about stuttering and its treatment, views on the effectiveness of the treatment, and its impact on their child's communication and mental health. Phenomenological qualitative research and the Purposive sampling method were used to conduct the study. Semi-structured interviews were held with 6 mothers and 2 fathers of children with stuttering for data collection. The data transcripts of the interviews were analyzed by using the content method. This study used three themes that emerged: (1) to explore the parent's knowledge about stuttering and its treatment, (2) to explore the parent's experience with communication level and mental health after completing the treatment, and (3) to explore the satisfaction level after completing the treatment. Findings suggest that parents' knowledge about stuttering was insufficient, but they were satisfied with the treatment. Keywords: Stuttering, Perception, Treatment, Mental Health, Communication.