“If you could, would you marry me again?”: a phenomenological study on the impact of aphasia on marriage

Introduction: Marriage and romantic relationships are a primary source of long-term social support and play a central role in living with the consequences of stroke, such as aphasia. Spouses and family members are amongst the most important people in one’s life and yet there remains a lack of understanding of aphasia’s impact and supportive interventions. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand the broad impact that aphasia has on marriage, from the perspective of both partners within a couple. Methods and Procedures: Five interviews were completed with married couples in which one spouse was living with aphasia (n = 10). A process of thematic analysis was employed to code the interviews and derive themes to understand the unique impacts that aphasia has on marriages. Results: Five themes were derived from the transcripts including the Experience of the Spouse with Aphasia, the Experience of the Spouse without aphasia, the Shared Stroke Experience, the Impact on Shared Interests/Activities, and the Relationship identity. Findings of this study suggest two major contributions to the growing body of literature on this topic including an apparent “identity shift” experienced by the caregiver, as well as the presence of a third identity, the relationship identity. Conclusions: Further research is needed to understand the broad and complex impacts that aphasia has on marriages. This preliminary work helps to lay the foundation for future research on couples, as well as provides clinical implications for the speech pathologist’s role in supporting couples impacted by aphasia.