Coping, Personality and Cognitive Processes in Burn Injured Patients

Being severely burned is a traumatic life event that affects the victim both physically and psychologically. Recovery can be a long process that is dependent in part upon psychological factors, but research in this area is still quite limited. The main aim of the thesis was to explore coping, personality and cognitive processes in long-term and short-term adaptation. The participants were recruited from three separate samples of former and consecutive adult burn patients. A questionnaire, the Coping with Burns Questionnaire (CBQ), was developed to retrospectively assess coping. It consisted of six coping factors related in different ways to self-reported health status. Regarding personality, the former patients displayed slightly more Neuroticism than people in general, suggesting an overrepresentation of premorbid neurotic personality traits. Avoidant coping was related to poorer perceived health status, more maladaptive personality traits, and was a strong predictor of psychological symptoms at three months post-burn. Regarding cognitive processes, a moderate attentional bias towards burn-related information was found in the former patients when using the emotional Stroop task. This indicates that the burn may still be an important issue years after the event. Finally, former patients’ reactions to participating in a trauma-related postal survey were investigated. A majority felt that participation was positive or even beneficial, while a small subgroup felt that participation was cumbersome or negative. To summarise, although many burn patients adapt well in the long run, the burn may still be a significant theme and the subgroup of Avoidant copers are especially vulnerable. The CBQ seems to be an adequate tool for discerning individuals at risk for poor adjustment. Trauma-related postal questionnaires are well accepted by a majority of former burn patients. Although long-term prospective follow-ups are needed to further validate the results, it is suggested that early screening of psychological factors could be of value in burn care

Feelings of guilt and embitterment in parents of children with burns and its associations with depression

Objectives: The aim was to examine guilt and embitterment in mothers and fathers of children with burns and its associations with depression and burn severity. Methods: Parents (N=61, mothers n=41, fathers n=20) completed self-report questionnaires on guilt and embitterment, 0.8-5.6 years after their child's burn. Burn severity and sociodemographic variables were obtained from medical records and symptoms of depression were assessed with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Results: The parents reported low levels of guilt, embitterment and depression. Burn-specific and general guilt were higher in mothers than fathers, but there were no differences in embitterment or symptoms of depression. General guilt was associated with depression, whereas burn-specific guilt and embitterment were not. Conclusions: Parents with general guilt may suffer from symptoms of depression. An implication is that clinicians should address guilt feelings among parents in order to alleviate distress and to identify any need for further counseling

Psychometric Properties of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 in parents to children with burns (018)

Introduction Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common problem among parents of children with burns. However, there is a paucity of evaluated screening tools for this population. The aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PTSD Checklist (PCL), which is recently revised in accordance to the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th ed.   Methods The participating parents (N= 62, mean age= 38) completed self-report questionnaires 0.8-5.6 years after their child’s burn. Measures were the PCL-5 (consisting of four subscales; Intrusion, Avoidance, Negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and Arousal and reactivity), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (with three subscales; Intrusion, Avoidance and Hyperarousal) and the Perceived Stress Scale. The children had a TBSA burned ranging from 1 to 31 % and were 0.1-15.0 years of age at injury. Results The average PCL-5 scores were low to moderate and indicated that no parent was above the recommended preliminary cut off of 38 for PTSD. Cronbach’s alpha values were acceptable and varied between 0.56 and 0.77 for the four PCL-5 subscales and mean inter-item correlations ranged from 0.22 to 0.73. The PCL-5 subscales were positively correlated with the corresponding IES-R subscales as well as the total PSS score (p<.05). There were no associations between the PCL-5 and  burn severity (TBSA, TBSA-FT, and LOS), time since injury, child age or gender, or parent gender.  Conclusion In conclusion, the PCL-5 had high internal consistency and evaluation of concurrent validity suggested moderate associations with other measures of traumatic stress and perceived stress as expected. The moderate associations with other measures of stress is to be expected, taking into account the slightly different constructs targeted by the three measures in this study. This first study suggests that the PCL-5 is a psychometrically sound instrument that deserves further evaluation as a screening tool for parents of children with burns

Psychometric properties of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 : a pilot study

Background: To date there is a lack of studies assessing the psychometric properties of the recently revised PTSD Checklist (PCL), the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). The aim of this pilot study was to examine the psychometric properties of the PCL-5 in parents of children with burns. Methods: The participating parents (N = 62, mean age = 38) completed self-report questionnaires, 0.8-5.6 years after their child's burn. Measures were the PCL-5, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Burn severity of the child and sociodemographic variables was obtained. Results: The parents' average PCL-5 scores were low to moderate. The internal consistency of the PCL-5 was satisfactory, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.56 to 0.77 and mean inter-item correlations ranging from 0.22 to 0.73 for the four PCL-5 subscales and the PCL-5 total. The PCL-5 subscales were moderately to highly correlated with the corresponding IES-R subscales as well as MADRS and PSS (p < 0.05), whereas associations with sociodemographics and burn severity were low to moderate. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary support for the use of PCL-5. The results indicate satisfactory psychometric properties of the PCL-5 as measured with internal consistency, test retest reliability, and aspects of convergent validity

Similarity in symptom patterns of posttraumatic stress among disaster-survivors : a three-step latent profile analysis

Background: Individuals express symptoms of posttraumatic stress in various ways, noted for example in the many symptom combinations in the diagnostic manuals. Studies aiming to examine differences of symptom presentations by extracting latent classes or profiles indicate both the presence of subtypes with differing symptomatology and subtypes distinguished by severity levels. Few studies have examined subtype associations with long-term outcomes. Objective: The current study aimed to apply latent profile analysis on posttraumatic stress (PTS) in a highly homogenous sample of Swedish tourists exposed to the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami and to examine if classes differed in their long-term outcome. Methods: An latent profile analysis was conducted using self-report data collected one year after the disaster from 1638 highly exposed survivors that endorsed 1 symptom of PTS. Associations were examined between the classes and predictors of PTS (loss of a relative or friend, subjective life threat) and levels of PTS at a three-year follow up. Results: The latent profile analysis indicated four classes: minimal, low, moderate, and severe symptoms. The classes were distinguished mainly by their levels of PTS. Loss of a relative or friend and subjective life threat were associated with a higher likelihood of belonging to any other class than the minimal class. The severity level of the classes at one year were predictive of PTS severity at the three-year follow-up. Conclusions: Homogeneous profiles of posttraumatic stress differing mainly in symptom severity were found in this sample of disaster survivors. Profile diversity may be related to sample variation and unmeasured confounders rather than reflect qualitatively different disorders

Being a family member of a burn survivor – : Experiences and needs

Background Family members are important in the recovery process of persons with severe burns; however, few previous studies have focused on how this group experiences care and rehabilitation. Objective To explore family members’ experiences and needs, during the time in hospital and after discharge. Methodology Explorative study with a qualitative descriptive design. Ten semi-structured interviews with family members of injured persons treated at the national burn centres were recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using content analysis. Findings Five categories were related to experiences during care: Experiencing excellent treatment and support, Experiencing mistrust and a rejecting attitude, Feelings of chaos and shock, Being the hub of the family network, Feeling hope and thankfulness. Three categories were related to experiences during rehabilitation: Ambiguous feelings, Multifaceted support and Handling the situation. Conclusion The experiences of the time in hospital and during rehabilitation are individual and comprise a mixture of positive and negative experiences and a diversity of needs. The results suggest that healthcare professionals should be proactive and identify specific needs for support as well as provide individualized treatment of family members

Perceived quality of pediatric burn care in parents of children with burns (P074)

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is an important dimension of quality of burn care. Furthermore, as parents are increasingly involved in burn care, their views are central for improvement of pediatric burn care. However, there are still few studies tapping into this field. The aim was to describe parents’ view on quality of pediatric burn care and evaluate potential differences in perceived quality among parents.  Methods: The parents (N= 62) were recruited on a national basis including the two burn centres in Sweden. The children had TBSA burned ranging from 1 to 31% and they were injured 0.8-5.6 years previously. Measures were an adaptation of the Quality of care indices - Parent questionnaire consisting of one overall question rated from 1-10 and 7 subscales; Information-Illness, Information-Routines, Accessibility, Medical Treatment, Caring Processes, Staff Attitudes, and Participation. Also, parents filled in the Impact of Event Scale -Revised, injury-specific fear-avoidance, the Montgomery Åsberg Depression rating scale, and rated their child’s general health according to the Burn Outcomes Questionnaire. Results: Ratings of quality of care were high especially regarding Staff Attitudes, Medical treatment and Caring processes. Overall satisfaction was on average 9.1 (sd = 1.2, range 3-10). Quality of care was not associated with TBSA, TBSA-FT, length of stay, age of the child, or parent gender or age. Parents of girls expressed being less satisfied with Participation. Several of the parents’ quality ratings were moderately, but significantly, associated with parents’ symptoms of posttraumatic stress, injury-specific fear-avoidance and depression, as well as their ratings of their child’s health. Conclusion: In this sample of minor to moderate pediatric burns, parents’ psychological health and view of their child’s health was more strongly associated with perceived quality of care than characteristics of the injury. As children easily acquire fears and negative expectations from their parents, it is important to minimize fear-avoidance among parents. Although satisfaction was very high, pediatric burn care might improve further by better information routines and by focusing more on parents of girls and on parents who themselves appear stressed, worried or depressive