Role of metacognitive beliefs in prediction of anxiety level and stuttering severity in people with stuttering

 Introduction: Stuttering is a complex disorder influencing occupational, academic, social, and emotional performance of the people affected by this disorder. Anxiety is one of the psychological factors negatively affect stuttering. The aim of present study was to investigate the role of metacognitive beliefs in the prediction of anxiety level and stuttering severity in people with stuttering. Materials and Methods: Using available sampling method, 61 subjects with stuttering and 61 sex and age matched healthy subjects without stuttering participated in this descriptive analytic cross sectional study. Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ-30), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI3) were used to collect the data. Results: The findings of independent t test showed that mean anxiety severity was significantly higher in subjects with stuttering than in control group (p < 0.001). Results of multiple regression analysis showed that metacognitive beliefs predicted 48% of anxiety score variance in subjects with stuttering and that among metacognitive beliefs, negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger and cognitive self-consciousness had more influential role in the prediction of anxiety in subjects with stuttering. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that metacognitive beliefs can be important factors in the prediction of anxiety level in subjects with stuttering. It is suggested that clinicians try to reduce the anxiety level of subjects with stuttering by identifying and modifying their negative metacognitive beliefs