Introduction: To date no study has investigated speech-related social anxiety for Vietnamese adults who stutter. To carry out such a study, a culturally and linguistically relevant assessment tool is required but is not yet available. The objectives of this study were to translate and adapt the UTBAS-6 scale into Vietnamese and evaluate the validity and reliability of the Vietnamese version of the scale for use with Vietnamese adults who stutter.

Methods: The translation process included forward and backward translation, synthesis, and expert review. The final version was administered to 34 Vietnamese adults who stutter. Content validity was assessed by experts working in the field of speech and language therapy. Face validity was assessed by study participants. Convergent and divergent validities were used to determine the construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the internal consistency and intraclass correlation coefficient to determine test-retest reliability.

Results: S-CVIs of “Relevance” and “Clarity” of the scale were in the range of 0.83-1.00, showing a high consensus of the expert panel. All participants stated that the Vietnamese version was related to stuttering and was easy to understand. The convergent validity was at 88.9% of the items, and the divergent validity was at 61.1% of the items. Alpha coefficients of three subscales and total scale were greater than 0.7. The test-retest reliability of the scales was moderate.

Conclusions: The results of the study provided preliminary information on the validity and reliability of the Vietnamese version of the UTBAS-6 scale. Further studies with a representative and larger sample size are needed to ensure the accuracy of the findings.

Introduction: Findings of experiences and impacts of stuttering on adult people who stutter (PWS) from previous qualitative studies may not be true for PWS in Vietnam, because of cultural, social, and environmental differences. Until now, there has been no study of stuttering in adult Vietnamese PWS, therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the experiences and impacts of stuttering in adult Vietnamese PWS across their lifespan and on different areas of their lives.

Methods: This is a qualitative descriptive study. Participants were recruited via the social networking site of the Vietnamese stuttering community (ECHO Vietnam). Each person was screened for developmental stuttering by an experienced and independent speech language therapist. Semi-structured interview was used for data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Results: Fear of stuttering, being teased by friends, unfavorable family reactions made PWS less confident, self-isolated, thereby having negative impacts on studying, working, and social relations. Beside negative experiences, a few showed empathy and support from teachers, relatives, and friends. PWS had low access to stuttering treatment because of lacking of official information on stuttering treatment. Self-help groups have played an active role in the treatment and emotional support for PWS.

Conclusion: This study provided preliminary information about the experiences and impacts of stuttering in Vietnamese adult PWS. Further studies are needed to obtain deeper and more comprehensive information. It is necessary, through mass media, especially the internet, to provide information about treatment facilities, or organizations that PWS can join to get counseling about treatment.