Our Scientific Scale

Our scientific scale

The Brief Comprehensive Stuttering Assessment BCSA™

A tool that captures the multifacted nature of stuttering.

The goal

The BCSA is aiming to improve, the already used clinician-rated scales* and self-reported scales*, and to be a new compact instrument aiming to reliably measure over time, the multifaceted severity of stuttering experienced by people who stutter.

* Clinician-rated scales such as the Stuttering Severity Instrument-4 (SSI-4) have shown intra-subject variability and modest inter-rater reliability,2 and fail to capture the subjective aspects of stuttering. Self-reported scales better reflect the patient’s experience with stuttering, but existing instruments are sub-optimal. The Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering (OASES) is limited by its length (100 items) while the more compact Subjective Self-rated Stuttering scale (SSS) refers to speaking situations that are often irrelevant to most people who stutter.

Advantages

Real indicators

Easy usage

Quick access to statistics

The scale

The scale consists of 10 items. 1 to 6 measures the severity of stuttering. Item 7 is a Clinical Global impression of stuttering. Items 8 and 9 measures the impact of stuttering on personal social and professional functioning while item 10 measures the impact os stuttering on quality of life.

How severe was your stuttering over the last week?

How often did you change, substitute or avoid words during the last week when you anticipated you might stutter?

To what extend did you feel physical tension while you were speaking last week?

How much energy did you expend last week focusing on how you were speaking rather than focusing on what you wanted to say?

During the past week how often did you avoid or wanted to avoid a conversation because of fear os stuttering?

How would you rate your level of anxiety while speaking??

How would you score your speech overall last week?

How would you rate the impact of stuttering in your school/work?

How would you rate the impact of stuttering in your social life?

How would you rate the impact of stuttering in your quality of life?

Measuring results

The scale consists of 10 items.

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More about the BCSA

Assessing the comprehensive nature of stuttering

The psychometric properties of the BCSATM were measured in 40 adults with Childhood Onset Fluency Disorder

Study Assessments:
BCSA was completed twice by each subject at 1 week interval. The scale consists of 10 items shown in Table 1 evaluated on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10. Items 1 to 6 were summed to derive 3 domain scores and a total score. Items 7 to 10 are not included in the total score: Item 7 is a separate global item rating the overall severity of stuttering; and items 8 to 10 are optional items measuring functional impairment associated with stuttering.

Other scales (SSS, SSI-4, PGI-S, SDS and QIDS SR) were administered once per subject and were used to determine the construct validity of BCSATM. Test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC), internal consistency (Cronbach alpha and item-total correlations) and construct validity (strength of correlation and known group validity with other scales) were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Relationship of BCSATM total score to other scales was further evaluated by hierarchical regression analyses in the study.

Face and content validity were assessed by conducting qualitative interviews with subjects.

Advantages

Real indicators

Easy usage

Quick access to statistics

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