The BigCAT: a normative and comparative investigation of the communication attitude of nonstuttering and stuttering adults

The purpose of this investigation was to provide normative and comparative data for the BigCAT, the adult form of the Communication Attitude Test, a sub-test of the Behavior Assessment Battery. The BigCAT, a 35-item self-report test of speech-associated attitude was administered to 96 adults who stutter (PWS) and 216 adults who do not (PWNS). The difference in the extent to which the two groups of participants reported a negative attitude toward their speech and speech ability, as measured by the BigCAT, was statistically significant. Moreover, the overlap in the scores of the PWS and PWNS was minimal, and the effect size attributable to group membership was very large. The BigCAT's high Cronbach Alpha coefficients, together with the fact that each of its items significantly differentiated PWS from PWNS, indicate that the BigCAT is an internally consistent measure of the attitude that they have about their speech. Gender did not have a significant influence on the attitude toward speech or speech ability of either the PWS or PWNS. Overall, the present data suggest that the BigCAT holds promise as an aid to clinical decision making that relates to the assessment and treatment of those who stutter.

Learning outcomes: (1) The reader will learn about the BigCAT, a self-report measure of speech-associated attitude. (2) The reader will be given normative and comparative data that relate to the speech-associated attitude of PWS and PWNS as measured by the BigCAT. This will enable the clinician to use the BigCAT data as a useful source of information in clinical decision making that relates to assessment and treatment. (3) The reader will be informed about the internal reliability and content validity of the BigCAT, a gender-free measure of the speech-associated attitude of PWS and PWNS.