Social problem solving and trait socioemotional abilities in ambulatory stroke patients

Stroke has been associated with sociocognitive impairment, so far well documented for emotion recognition and Theory of Mind. However, more complex abilities, such as social problem solving, which directly facilitate appropriate behavior in social situations have been neglected in previous research.

The present study aimed to address this gap by focusing on performance-based social problem solving abilities and self-reported socioemotional abilities (i.e., empathy and alexithymia) in outpatient stroke patients (n = 36) compared to a group of healthy controls (n = 36) equivalent on age, gender, and education. In further analyses, potential lateralization effects and correlations between social problem solving/socioemotional functioning and demographic and clinical data were investigated.

In the main analyses, patients were impaired in their ability to freely generate appropriate solutions for challenging interpersonal situations depicted in written scenarios but performed on a comparable level as healthy controls when they had to choose the optimal solution presented amidst a range of less optimal options. While showing difficulty in identifying the awkward elements in the scenarios, the patient group nevertheless rated the degree of discomfort attributed to these elements on a level comparable to the control group. On the self-report measures, stroke patients reported overall higher degrees of alexithymia (i.e., an inability to describe and identify one's own and other persons´ emotions) and more personal distress in response to other individuals´ emotional suffering as assessed by self-report.

The present results suggest that stroke is associated with a broad impact on socioemotional and social problem solving abilities. As difficulties in social problem solving might be associated with increased psychosocial burden they ought to be addressed in stroke rehabilitation.