How are parents affected when their child has an appearance-altering injury?

Abstract

In the UK, around 6400 children experience a burn injury every year. This can have a profound impact on a child's psychological and physical wellbeing—but how are parents affected when their child suffers a burn? Catrin Griffiths explores the effect of a child's burn injury on parents' coping skills and wellbeing, and highlights the importance of adequately assessing parents' needs and providing appropriate support

Parent-perceived isolation and barriers to psychosocial support: a qualitative study to investigate how peer support might help parents of burn-injured children

“…15 Most burn services within the United Kingdom provide specialist psychosocial support for those affected by burns and their families. 13 It is also recommended that a support group should be available enabling patients, families and/or carers to access peer support. 16 However, the provision of such support within the UK, particularly for parents/carers, is limited.…”

“…8 However, in providing effective parental support to enable parents to support their child, it is vital for parents' psychological and social needs to be identified. 13 The literature regarding parental and family support is descriptive, demonstrating awareness of the issues and concerns affecting family members, 14 stress and coping, 9 and the influence of…”

“…8 However, in providing effective parental support to enable parents to support their child, it is vital for parents’ psychological and social needs to be identified. 13…”

Parents’ lived experiences of parental needs for support at a burn centre

“…This study did not, however, investigate parents’ actual experience and needs (Lernevall et al, 2019b ). Assessing parents’ emotional status and support needs during their child’s hospitalisation may be difficult as they are so concerned about their child’s wellbeing that they supress their own needs, which also makes it difficult for them to receive psychosocial support (Griffiths, 2017 ; Heath et al, 2018 ). Parent-perceived isolation and barriers to psychosocial support as well as the current lack of evidence-based parental support programmes testify to the need for further research in this field (Heath et al, 2018 ; Lernevall et al, 2019b ).…”

Testing the Responsiveness of and Defining Minimal Important Difference (MID) Values for the CARe Burn Scales: Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to Assess Quality of Life for Children and Young People Affected by Burn Injuries, and Their Parents/Caregivers

“…Parents can find social encounters challenging if others look or stare at their child's scars, and they can struggle to know how best to respond and may develop a tendency to avoid social situations. The parental relationship can also suffer when both parents are coming to terms with the event, changing parental roles and the practical and financial challenges of supporting a child with a burn injury [17,18]. Research indicates that parental coping predicts how well a child adjusts to their injury [19].…”