Prospective Evaluation of Parent Distress Following Pediatric Burns and Identification of Risk Factors for Young Child and Parent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

The findings from this study suggest that parents' responses to a traumatic event may play a particularly important role in a young child's psychological recovery. However, further research is needed to confirm the direction of the relationship between child and parent distress. This study identified variables that could be incorporated into screening tools or targeted by early intervention protocols to prevent the development of persistent child and parent PTSS following medical trauma.

Health-Related Quality of Life in adolescent survivors of burns: Agreement on self-reported and mothers’ and fathers’ perspectives

“…Parental post-traumatic stress symptoms are reported to be a common consequence in the aftermath of a burn event [18,19]. The scars which are directly linked to the burn event may act as a reminder and therefore may play a role in parental observations [20].…”

A holistic exploration of paediatric partial thickness burn care in the outpatient setting

“…Preliminary research into the resilience of pediatric burn survivors and resilience in their caregivers concluded that they were correlated, with a child's positive adjustment and well-being post-burn being affected by the psychological responses of the caregiver [146]. This again ties in with the knowledge that parent stress reactions can affect the child's own reactions to a burn or traumatic injury [23,98,99].…”

“…Parents and caregivers have been demonstrated to use negative coping reactions such as blame when caring for a burn-injured child and experience feelings of guilt [22]. Accordingly, research has also shown that a child's psychosocial recovery can be impacted on by parents' responses to the burn event [23]. There is evidence that parent distress levels are not influenced by the size of the burn [24], however the research focus still lies primarily with children who sustain major burn injuries.…”

“…Parents often witness the burn accident and subsequently accompany the child through painful wound care procedures and assist with managing the burn wound at home, all of which can influence stress levels [21]. The relationship of parent distress and the impact on child distress is well-researched with numerous studies reporting that a child's distress can be influenced by parents' responses to the traumatic event [23,98,99]. Studies have found that parent behaviors related to situational distress and anticipation of child distress can influence the child's response and psychological recovery from a burn injury [23,98,99].…”

“…For a child who sustains a traumatic, unintentional injury such as a burn, recovery can be affected by both the experience of the parent and child during treatment, as parental stress reactions are known to impact on the child's own reactions to stressful situations [23,98,99]. Parents of children who sustain burn injuries have been found to display acute stress reactions related to concerns for their child during the acute treatment phase and longer-term potential psychosocial impacts for the child [136].…”