Communication apprehension treatment programs at U.S. Colleges and Universities : an update of hoffman and sprague

Abstract

Communication Apprehension (CA) has been a subject for research since Mccroskey initially advanced the concept in 1970, and fear of public speaking had been a concern long before that. In 1982, Hoffman and Sprague reviewed the literature concerning fear or anxiety about communication and found that while there were some articles about individual treatment programs, there had been no effort to find out how many such programs there were at the college and university level, what the programs in existence used as treatment and evaluation methods or whether there was a perceived need for such programs. To explore the field of treatment programs, Hoffman and Sprague designed a survey to gather information concerning: 1) How many programs for communicatively apprehensive or reticent students are operated by speech departments at the college and university level in the U.S. 2) How these programs are operated in terms of students treated, number of faculty involved, treatment methods and length, screening and evaluation procedures. 3) How respondents feel toward such programs, whether they perceive a need for them or not. 4) What factors account for the absence of a program at their institution. 5) How institutional characteristics and presence or absence of a treatment program relate to perceived need for programs. (p. 185) The survey instrument was then sent to all 1682 institutions on the Speech Communication Association roster of junior and community colleges and senior colleges and universities in the U.S. which offered speech instruction. Responses were received from 847 institutions, 52.4% of those contacted. Analysis of the responses showed that the sample received was representative of the population from which it was drawn. Of those institutions responding, 6.1% (52) operated a special program for communicatively apprehensive or anxious students within the speech department (six other programs were operated outside speech departments and were not included in the further results of this study). The size of the programs was relatively small, with 73% having 1-50 students per year, and most programs (54.9%) having only one faculty member involved. When the survey asked if there was a need for more treatment programs, 57% of the respondents said, yes there was a need. However, when asked why there was no program at their institutions, 52.2% responded that there was no need for such a program at their institution (pp. 186-190).  Interest and research in the area of communication apprehension or anxiety has continued since Hoffman and Sprague. However, there has been no further report of the availability of treatment programs. This study will update the Hoffman and Sprague results.

Notes

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Graduation Date

1992

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Butler, Jeff

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Communication

Format

PDF

Pages

60 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029861

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

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