Introduction: Stuttering support groups are increasingly recognized for enhancing psychosocial outcomes among people who stutter. However, little research has examined these benefits in non-Western, digitally mediated contexts. This study explored the psychosocial impacts of participating in a professionally supported online peer community for adults who stutter in China—a context characterized by significant stigma and limited professional support. The community was hosted on WeChat, China’s most widely used social media platform. Methods: Using the Simplified Chinese version of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering (OASES-A-SC), we analyzed two independent cross-sectional datasets (2021: N=139; 2022–2024: N=346). We first compared OASES scores between participants who attended structured support activities and those who did not, then examined community-level psychosocial changes over time. Results: Support group participants reported significantly lower adverse impact scores across all four OASES sections and the Overall Impact Score, with moderate-to-large effect sizes (Cohen’s d=0.38–1.03). Temporal comparison revealed a significant improvement in the Quality of Life domain over time (Cohen’s d=0.49), even though structured meeting attendance was relatively low. Conclusion: The findings suggest that structured professional support group activities significantly reduced the adverse impact of stuttering on participants’ lives, highlighting the importance of professional guidance in enhancing support effectiveness. Additionally, informal, daily interactions via WeChat provided meaningful emotional validation and social connectedness, contributing to community-wide psychosocial improvement. This study provides initial quantitative evidence that professionally supported online stuttering communities can positively impact psychosocial well-being, particularly in culturally stigmatizing and resource-limited settings.
Yan et al. (2025) studied this question.