Investigating the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on social Anxiety and Self-Compassion in Adults with Stuttering

Stuttering is a complex and multidimensional speech disorder that often creates negative reactions from listeners and a very negative attitude towards speech. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction on social anxiety and self-compassion in adults who stutter.
The current research design is semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The statistical population of the study included all adults aged 18 to 40 with stuttering who referred to speech therapy and psychology clinics in Isfahan city in 2022-2023. The sample size was 30 people who were selected purposefully and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received mindfulness-based stress reduction and the control group did not receive any training. There were 15 subjects in each group who completed the Social Phobia Inventory and Self-Compassion Scale in three stages. The data was analyzed using mixed variance analysis in SPSS-23 statistical software.
 The results of the mixed variance analysis showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction has made significant changes (P<0.001) in the experimental group in the variables of social anxiety and self-compassion in all evaluation stages.
 According to these results, it can be said that the mentioned method can be used by therapists to improve social anxiety and self-compassion of people who stutter.