Brazilian version of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering – Adults protocol (OASES-A) Versão brasileira do protocolo Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering – Adults (OASES-A)

Purpose: To verify the applicability of the protocol Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering – Adults (OASES-A), translated into Brazilian Portuguese, in a sample of adults who stutter. Methods: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the OASES-A protocol was individually applied to 18 people who stutter. The classification of stuttering severity was based on the Stuttering Severity Instrument for Children and Adults (SSI-3) protocol. Translation and back-translation processes were carried out by specialists, considering semantic, conceptual, cultural, and idiomatic equivalences. Results: There was no correlation between the severity degrees of stuttering assessed by the SSI-3 protocol and the self-assessment performed using the OASES-A. Subjects reported impairments in perceived fluency; speech ability; level of knowledge about stuttering and treatment options; use of confrontational techniques; quality of life. They also mentioned having difficulty coping with emotional states such as anxiety and embarrassment, and with communication in daily situations. Conclusion: The OASES-A protocol is useful in the assessment and treatment of stutterers, as it provides specialized speech-language pathologists with sutterers’ self-perception regarding their communication difficulties and the impact of stuttering on their quality of life.