Quality of life and psychosocial adjustment to burn injury: social functioning, body image, and health policy perspectives.
This paper reviews four major topics related to the long-term psychosocial rehabilitation for burn survivors; (1) Body image adjustment process; (2) Social functioning challenges; (3) Interventions designed to address psychosocial rehabilitation challenges; and (4) Current policy developments in the USA and the UK that focus on raising the rehabilitation standards for psychosocial care for burn survivors. While acknowledging the close relationship between body image distress and social functioning, these two areas are reviewed separately with the goal of addressing two specific questions. First, what does current empirical research and clinical experience teach us about each of these areas, and second, what are the most important gaps in current knowledge about body image and social functioning, respectively? The final section of the paper specifically addresses the question of what can be done, from a practical and a health policy perspective, to ensure that existing body image and social difficulties are appropriately addressed.
Corry
Nida
N
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. nida_corry@gmail.com
Pruzinsky
Thomas
T
Rumsey
Nichola
N
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001828:Body Image; D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States