Young, scarred children and their mothers--a short-term investigation into the practical, psychological and social implications of thermal injury to the preschool child. Part III: Factors influencing outcome responses.
The thermal injury, personal and social factors affecting the short-term outcome responses of thermally injured children under 5 years of age and their mothers are reported. Statistical analysis of factors influencing the mother and child outcome responses uses data from serial interviews with mothers of 57 thermally injured children which took place whilst the child was in hospital, and at home, at 1 week, 2 months and 6 months following hospital discharge. A relationship was found between the child's behaviour and the mother's outcome response at 6 months. Essentially, for the mother, the qualitative outcome response of the Maternal Thermal Injury Response Pattern was associated with the severity of the child's thermal injury and the quantitative General Health Questionnaire scores were associated with a previous tendency to depression and increased stress on the mother existing prior to the accident. For the child, no thermal injury factor appeared to affect behavioural outcome. The child was disturbed behaviour following a thermal injury, however, was more likely to have a mother with a history of depression, and added stress (lower socioeconomic status, and additional worries) and have a mother who was blamed for the accident. Thus, mothers whose child has a more severe thermal injury will take longer to come to terms with it ('rationalize' the thermal injury) and those mothers who were most stressed prior to the accident and who had a previous tendency to depression, will have more psychiatric morbidity (a higher GHQ score) as a result. Both these groups will require particular support.
Mason
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S
Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester, UK.
Hillier
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VF
D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology*; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors