Using a Biopsychosocial Model to Understand Long-Term Outcomes in Persons With Burn Injuries.
Shelley Wiechman, Michael A Hoyt, David R Patterson
PMID 29501455WHAT IT FOUND
Pre-burn emotional health and avoidance coping were linked to burn adjustment over two years.
Avoidance coping was associated with more distress, depressive symptoms and PTSD at one year, and more PTSD at two years.
Key findings
01Better pre-burn emotional health was associated with better adjustment at year 1 and greater PTSD symptoms at year 2.
02Greater use of avoidance coping was associated with more depressive symptoms, psychological distress and PTSD at year 1, and more PTSD at year 2, but not with year 2 depressive symptoms or psychological distress.
03Burn injury characteristics and gender were not significantly related to adjustment outcomes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Follow-up rates varied and affected the number analysed at each timepoint. Not all 231 participants had complete longitudinal data because measures were administered and discontinued at different times. Participants lost to follow-up were slightly younger and more likely to have a foot or leg burn than completers. Coping was measured only once at 6 months, so it may not reflect coping across recovery. The study did not measure pain, amputation, inhalation injury, personality factors or injury severity beyond TBSA. The study tested associations with questionnaires, so it cannot show that changing pre-burn health or coping caused adjustment.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists NIH extramural research support. No author conflict-of-interest statement is provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that larger or smaller burns cause better or worse adjustment. Burn injury characteristics were not significantly related to adjustment outcomes, and the study did not test whether treatment changes adjustment.