The Effects of Reading Personal Narratives Written by an Individual Who Uses AAC on the Attitudes of Pre-Professionals in Business

Abstract

A Solomon Four-Group Design was used to study the effects of reading personal narratives written by an individual with complex communication needs on the attitudes, potential future behaviors, and general experiences of 109 undergraduate business majors. The Attitudes Toward Nonspeaking Persons Scale (ATNP) and a scale of behavioral intentions modeled according to Ajzen's () Theory of Planned Behavior were used as dependent variables. A sub-group of individuals in the experimental group participated in individual follow-up interviews. Results revealed individuals who read the narratives had more positive attitudes than those who did not; however, there were potentially reactive effects for pre-testing evident on one subscale of the ATNP scale. Interviews revealed a need for more explicit information about the workings of AAC and a need to change expectations about working with individuals with disabilities.

Keywords:

• Attitude change
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Personal narratives

Author Note

Lacey Donofrio-Horwitz is currently affiliated with Western Reserve Speech and Language Partners in Beachwood, Ohio, USA. Laura Smucker is currently affiliated with Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in November, 2006 with only preliminary data for the Behavioral Intentions Scale. This research was made possible in part by a Scholarly Activity Award grant from the Ohio University's College of Health and Human Services. Thanks to Katy Birr and Stephanie Pratt for their assistance with data collection. Thanks also to the panel who provided feedback on the narratives to be selected for the project. Special thanks to David Chapple for sharing his words for this study and for continuing to make them available online.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.