TY - JOUR
T1 - Adult survivors' lived experience of burns and post-burn health
T2 - A qualitative analysis
AU - Abrams, Thereasa E.
AU - Ogletree, Roberta J.
AU - Ratnapradipa, Dhitinut
AU - Neumeister, Michael W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Following IRB approval from the Office of Special Projects and the Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects (SCRIHS), six burn survivors were recruited at the 2012 Annual Burn Survivors’ Recognition dinner, sponsored by this institution's Regional Burn Center. Following a brief presentation by the primary investigator who described the purpose of the study, attendees who met inclusion criteria were invited to provide their names and contact information on a roster placed at the back of the room. One additional participant was a peer recruit and another was recruited from the 2009–2010 mailing lists of discharged burn patients treated at our regional burn center. Participants were asked to recruit a person who was actively involved in their recoveries if available, who could contribute to their individual stories. Inclusion of family members for interviews provided corroborating data based on involved observers’ perceptions of their loved-ones’ burn events, recuperations and post-burn health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Introduction The individual implications of major burns are likely to affect the full spectrum of patients' physical, emotional, psychological, social, environmental, spiritual and vocational health. Yet, not all of the post-burn health implications are inevitably negative. Utilizing a qualitative approach, this heuristic phenomenological study explores the experiences and perceptions early (ages 18-35) and midlife (ages 36-64) adults providing insight for how participants perceived their burns in relationship to their post-burn health. Methods Participants were interviewed using semi-structured interview questions framed around seven domains of health. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim then coded line by line, identifying dominant categories related to health. Categories were analyzed identifying shared themes among the study sample. Results Participants were Caucasian, seven males and one female. Mean age at time of interviews was 54.38 and 42.38 at time of burns. Mean time since burns occurred was 9.38 years with a minimum of (20%) total body surface area (TBSA) burns. Qualitative content analysis rendered three emergent health-related categories and associated themes that represented shared meanings within the participant sample. The category of "Physical Health" reflected the theme physical limitations, pain and sensitivity to temperature. Within the category of "Intellectual Health" were themes of insight, goal setting and self-efficacy, optimism and humor and within "Emotional Health" were the themes empathy and gratitude. Conclusions By exploring subjective experiences and perceptions of health shared through dialog with experienced burned persons, there are opportunities to develop a more complete picture of how holistic health may be affected by major burns that in turn could support future long-term rehabilitative trajectories of early and midlife adult burn patients.
AB - Introduction The individual implications of major burns are likely to affect the full spectrum of patients' physical, emotional, psychological, social, environmental, spiritual and vocational health. Yet, not all of the post-burn health implications are inevitably negative. Utilizing a qualitative approach, this heuristic phenomenological study explores the experiences and perceptions early (ages 18-35) and midlife (ages 36-64) adults providing insight for how participants perceived their burns in relationship to their post-burn health. Methods Participants were interviewed using semi-structured interview questions framed around seven domains of health. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim then coded line by line, identifying dominant categories related to health. Categories were analyzed identifying shared themes among the study sample. Results Participants were Caucasian, seven males and one female. Mean age at time of interviews was 54.38 and 42.38 at time of burns. Mean time since burns occurred was 9.38 years with a minimum of (20%) total body surface area (TBSA) burns. Qualitative content analysis rendered three emergent health-related categories and associated themes that represented shared meanings within the participant sample. The category of "Physical Health" reflected the theme physical limitations, pain and sensitivity to temperature. Within the category of "Intellectual Health" were themes of insight, goal setting and self-efficacy, optimism and humor and within "Emotional Health" were the themes empathy and gratitude. Conclusions By exploring subjective experiences and perceptions of health shared through dialog with experienced burned persons, there are opportunities to develop a more complete picture of how holistic health may be affected by major burns that in turn could support future long-term rehabilitative trajectories of early and midlife adult burn patients.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.burns.2015.09.011
DO - 10.1016/j.burns.2015.09.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 26527372
AN - SCOPUS:84961901880
VL - 42
SP - 152
EP - 162
JO - Burns
JF - Burns
SN - 0305-4179
IS - 1
ER -