Using Brief Habit Reversal to Decrease Speech Disfluencies in Public Speaking. A Systematic Replication

Abstract

Purpose: Many social workers are concerned about public speaking because of their use of speech disfluencies. Perrin et al. (2021) used brief habit reversal to reduce public-speaking speech disfluencies. The study was systematically replicated to evaluate the benefit of brief habit reversal training for social workers in decreasing speech disfluencies. Method: Nine students of social work, divided into three groups, participated in this study. After baseline, they received brief habit reversal, consisting of awareness training and instruction on a competing response. Results: The results showed that compared to baseline, all participants reduced speech disfluencies during brief habit reversal. The low rates of speech disfluencies were maintained during postsessions. At follow-up 2.5 to 6 weeks after training, six of nine participants achieved a reduction of at least 80 percent from baseline. Discussion: To further adapt the training to the field of social workers, further research would be necessary.