title: Men, fire, and burns: Stories of fighting, healing, and emotions.
abstract: Burn recovery is a difficult process full of physical and psychological challenges. With increasing survival rates, there has been renewed interest in the psychological aspects of burn recovery. As men represent over 70% of all burn patients, it is particularly important to study how men experience and interpret this process. We interviewed a purposeful sample of ten adult male burn survivors from different age and cultural groups in the first 16 weeks of their recovery and asked them to discuss the problems they faced. Narrative analysis was used to interpret the interviews. In their narratives, the men tended to emphasize gains in their physical recovery; that is, they often used metaphors of "fighting" to demonstrate how committed they were to their healing. Further, they put less emphasis on the emotional aspects of their recovery. In our discussion, we compare these complex storylines to coping strategies identified in the literature and discuss why men may choose these strategies. Based on our findings we argue that it is important for health care providers to be aware of societal pressures which may influence burn survivors to minimize affective elements of burn recovery. Additionally, we encourage exploring and capitalizing on men's "fighting" stories during rehabilitation in order to foster an active role which men can take in their recovery.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada. Electronic address: umthakrs@myumanitoba.ca.
authors.forename: Sulaye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thakrar
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Tevya A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada; Department of Psychology, The American University of Paris, France.
authors.forename: Maria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Medved
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada; Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hiebert-Murphy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada; Department of Psychology, The American University of Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brockmeier
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada; Departments of Psychiatry, Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Jitender
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sareen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Manitoba & Manitoba Firefighters Burn Unit, Health Sciences Centre, Canada.
authors.forename: Sarvesh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Logsetty
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D004644:Emotions; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D020127:Recovery of Function; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014945:Wound Healing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Affect; Body image; Burn; Coping; Men; Narrative; Pain