Linguistic Markers of Support in Stroke Survivor-caregiver Dyads: Preliminary Findings

Research Objectives: Stroke impacts relationship quality between stroke survivors and caregivers. Discussions about relationship functioning have been associated with better adjustment in couples with chronic illness. Language style matching (LSM) is an objective metric of synchrony between communication partners based on the coordinated use of function words. LSM is associated with greater perceived social and emotional support in healthy adults, better relationship quality in older adults, and increased self-disclosure in an online support forum for breast cancer survivors. LSM has not been explored in stroke patient-caregiver dyad interactions. The objective of this study was to explore the presence of language style matching (LSM) in stroke patient-caregiver dyad interactions.

Design: Cohort study

Setting: Academic medical center clinical research facility

Participants: Volunteer and referred sample (N=20; 10 stroke survivors and 10 caregivers). To take part in this study, stroke survivors had to be > 3-months post-stroke, ≥ 40 years old and have mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment, slowed cognitive processing speed, and a family caregiver over 18 years who could attend study sessions

Interventions: N/A

Main Outcome Measures: Patients and their caregivers engaged in brief interviews discussing the patient’s ability to complete activities in the past week and its impact on the dyad relationship. Patients also completed measures of social support. LSM was calculated from interviews using linguistic processing software (Linguistic Inquiry Word Count or LIWC). LSM scores range from 0-1; scores ≥0.85 indicate high synchronicity in conversation. Emotional and instrumental support were assessed using the NIH Toolbox Emotional Support and Instrumental Support questionnaires. Higher T-scores indicate more perceived support.

Results: LSM scores (M=0.85, SD=0.07) indicated high synchronicity in dyad conversations and 60% of dyads met the threshold for high LSM. Patient ratings of emotional support (M=45.0, SD=12.2) and instrumental support (M=53.3, SD=7.0) were in the average range and consistent with perceived adequate social support.

Conclusions: In this sample of stroke patients reporting adequate social support, high synchronicity (LSM) was observed in dyad discussions of stroke-affected functional abilities and their impact on the dyad relationship. These preliminary findings warrant further study with a larger sample and application of statistical methods, e.g., linear regression, to evaluate the potential relationship between LSM and social support. This information would be valuable for psychotherapists and others who work with stroke dyads.

Author(s) Disclosures: None