Social validation of post-treatment outcomes of adults who stutter who participated in CARE Model treatment: replication and extension.

PURPOSE: Social validation provides external validity of treatment outcomes from the perspective of untrained observers. To date, clinical efficacy studies of the Blank Center CARE™ Model indicate post-treatment gains in communication competence from the perspective of participants and clinicians. A preliminary social validation study corroborated these positive treatment outcomes with ratings from the general public for a single participant in a single context. The present study was designed to replicate and extend these findings by assessing clinical outcomes from the perspective of untrained observers across multiple participants and contexts.

METHOD: Ten adults who stutter provided communication samples one week before and after completing the Blank Center CARE Model treatment. A total of 1,110 untrained observers were recruited. Each untrained observer rated only one participant at one timepoint (pre-treatment or post-treatment) in one context (dyad or presentation), and each participant was asked to provide only one rating (communication competence or stuttering severity).

RESULTS: A significant interaction indicated that post-treatment gains were observed for communication competence, but not stuttering severity, for both contexts.

CONCLUSIONS: Present findings provide further social validation of the Blank Center CARE Model of treatment. Untrained observers confirmed that participation in this strengths-based approach significantly enhances communication competence. Notably, these changes were observed regardless of pre- to post-treatment stuttering severity, lending additional support to the premise that changes in communication and fluency are independent constructs.