| Sumario: | Purpose: A limited number of studies have explored attitudes toward people who stutter (PWS) in different cultures. Recent studies have looked at the attitudes of Arab parents toward PWS. The current study explores attitudes reported by Arab teachers from Kuwait and provides a preliminary comparison with attitudes reported by teachers from the United States. Method: This study used an English version and an Arabic translation of a 14-item semantic differential (SD) scale (Burley & Rinaldi, 1986) to assess differences in American and Arab teachers' attitudes toward PWS. Results: A majority of Arab teachers from Kuwait reported neutral to positive attitudes toward PWS on the SD scale. However, ~1/3 of the Arab teachers reported relatively negative attitudes toward PWS on items relating to social skills and employability. A comparison of the American and Arab teachers' results indicated generally positive attitudes toward PWS; however, the American teachers reported significantly more positive attitudes on 11 of the 14 items in the scale. Discussion: The significant differences between the 2 groups may be attributed to a variety of cultural factors related to perceptions and beliefs about communication disorders, including stuttering. Familiarity with PWS could be another factor related to the differences reported. The differences found between the 2 groups indicates a need for future studies using different methods to corroborate the results of this study and further explore factors responsible for the difference in responses. Limitations with the present study and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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