Burns and adjustment to injury: do psychological coping strategies help?
The effects of teaching patients strategies for coping with the pain of an acute burn injury and its treatment were investigated. Twenty patients with comparable burn injuries and admitted to a Burn Center were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. Experimental patients received systematic instruction on how to cope with the pain and stress of burn injury; control patients received standard information and social support only. Results showed that experimental patients reported less pain and greater sense of psychological well-being and control over the outcome of their injuries than did control patients. Moreover, experimental patients went home, on the average, more than 1 week sooner than did control patients. The implications of these findings for the improved care of patients with burn injuries and the economics of burn care are discussed.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology