Body image following burn-injury

Abstract

The aim of this project was to explore how locally treated burns patients view their body image after experiencing a burn injury. This aim was achieved by the conduction of a small-scale, non-experimental, exploratory, descriptive research study. The perceptions of a purposive sample of 10 locally treated bum-injured individuals were obtained through semi-structured interviews that were carried out in the participants' own homes. The three themes identified through content analysis were as follows: The circumstances identified in which patients became aware of changes in body image; the explored consequences of a burn-injury in relation to body ima.ge, and respondents' views on support to patients with burns. The findings showed that patients with a bum-injury become aware of changes in their bodies particularly in appearance, at an early stage in their course of treatment. However a changed body image was placed second to more severe consequences that happened or could have happened because of injury. Furthermore the respondents in this study seemed to have coped well with the consequences of injury. This may be attributed to the adoption of good coping mechanisms and the availability of a social support network of family, relatives, friends and the presence of a therapeutic nurse to patient relationship. In view of these findings a number of recommendations for education, clinical practice and research were proposed.