Three Years After Black Saturday

Abstract

Despite increasing evidence that burn injuries can result in multiple psychological sequelae, little is known about the long-term psychosocial adjustment to burns sustained in a major bushfire. The aim of the present study was to assess long-term psychological distress and health-related quality of life in Australian burns patients as a result of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Eight male and five female burns patients with a mean age of 53.92 (SD = 11.82) years who received treatment at a statewide burns service participated in the study. A battery of standardized questionnaires was administered to assess general psychological distress, burns-specific and generic health-related quality of life, alcohol use, and specific psychological symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. The results revealed that more than 3 years after Black Saturday 33% of the burns patients still suffered "high" to "very high" levels of general distress, whereas 58% fulfilled partial or full criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, participants still experienced significantly impaired physical health functioning as compared to their preinjury status including limitations in work-based activities, increased bodily pain, and lower vitality overall. The trajectory of distress varied for participants. Some individuals experienced little distress overall, whereas others displayed a decline in their stress levels over time. Notwithstanding, some patients maintained high levels of distress throughout or experienced an increase in distress at a later stage of recovery. The results point to the importance of psychosocial screening to identify distress early. Follow-up assessments are crucial to diagnose individuals with chronic or late onset of distress.

Health related quality of life in adults after burn injuries: A systematic review

“…Mean scores per domain were assessed and high scores refer to a good perceived health status. Of the 47 studies that used the BSHS-B or BSHS-R, 17 could be used to analyze HRQL recovery patterns [ 19 , 26 , 38 , 40 , 49 , 60 , 64 , 67 , 76 , 81 – 83 , 88 , 90 , 91 , 102 , 105 ] ( S1 Fig ).…”

Assessment of Self-Esteem and Depression in Burn Afflicted Women

“…Burn is an injury to skin affected by heat, electricity and chemicals, burn afflicted victims suffer from psychological and physical problems such as depression, self-esteem, isolation and others. The physical and psychological scars are long lasting and often lead to chronic disability [11][12][13][14][15][16]. With advances in medical sciences, the rate of survival of burn patients is increased but less attention is paid to the social well-being of the burn victims as they find difficulties in their normal routine life matters [4,8].…”

“…With advances in medical sciences, the rate of survival of burn patients is increased but less attention is paid to the social well-being of the burn victims as they find difficulties in their normal routine life matters [4,8]. Pre-morbid characteristics of people who sustain severe burn injuries, their psychological reactions during their stay in hospitals and long-term adjustment are also discussed by many authors [10,11]. Less attention is paid on the emotional needs of patients with burns as compared to their survival from burns.…”

“…Burns affect the burn victims in many ways, it not only affect their physical appearance rather it has been shown to affect the psychological well-being of the burn victims [2,7]. Psychological and physical problems after burn injuries lead to depression, anxiety, fear of social life and physical discomfort and pain among burn afflicted people [11,15]. Depressive symptoms are common in burn patients and are twice as common among women.…”

“…Patients with a burn injury perceived low social support from society, which negatively affects their health outcomes whereas their resilience levels were not significantly different from their healthy counterparts [14]. Depression and self-esteem were more significant in participants who were not able to work and/or go to school [9,11]. Burn victims perceiving more social support had more positive body images, greater selfesteem and less depression [9,14].…”