Uncovering Linguistic Strategies in Kuwaiti Doctor’s Patient-Directed Communication

The current study explores linguistic strategies used by Kuwaiti Doctors in their interactions with patients. By examining the language used in standard doctor-patient interactions, it provides preliminary insights into the communication practices of Kuwaiti healthcare professionals. Due to practical and ethical considerations, twenty-six family doctors participated in a Discourse Completion Task featuring six different scenarios to identify preferred linguistic strategies. The findings reveal a tendency towards indirect requests and questions indicating obligation or possibility when advising patients. Doctors frequently offered help using inclusive first-person plural 'we' inflections, especially with apprehensive patients. In supportive contexts, multiple communicative functions were often utilized simultaneously. These insights are valuable for linguists and healthcare providers, contributing to cross-cultural and inter-language communication research. The findings also inform subsequent investigations into patient preferences, enriching the understanding of effective communication in healthcare settings in Kuwait.