Psychosocial implications of burn injuries through nurses’ perspectives : implications for counselling

Abstract

This dissertation looks into the psychosocial implications of burn injuries through the perspectives of nurses. Five nurses who have experienced working in the burns unit participated in order to address the research question; “According to nurses who have experienced working in the burns unit, what are the psychosocial needs that traumatised burn patients experience?”. Such injuries are considered to be traumatic because they disrupt the individual’s life resulting in psychosocial distress. This qualitative question was addressed using thematic analysis and thus semi-structured interviews were conducted. Four themes were elicited from these interviews with findings indicating that burn patients experience burden, issues with their new appearance and overwhelming emotions. Moreover, their coping mechanisms were also identified. Hence, findings suggest that individuals with burns encounter consequences from the injury which impact their financial stability, self-esteem, level of dependence and emotional state. Hence, participants explored the burned individuals’ needs to talk to someone in order to reach a state of acceptance. Therefore, participants are in favour of implementing support groups for individuals with burns. Moreover, they also suggest expanding counselling services to relatives and staff who are overwhelmed in the process. Despite this finding, throughout the study it became evident that there is a lack of knowledge about the counselling profession, hence this study recommends psycho-educating the public on the benefits and implications of the counselling profession.