Investigators:
Prof Helen Milroy, Dr Alix Woolard, Prof Fiona Wood, Prof Ashleigh Lin, Dr Lisa Martin, Nicole Wickens, Elmie Janse van Rensberg, Lisa McGivern, Rigel Paciente
Project description:
Burns are a common cause of emergency presentations, and most burn injuries happen to children and adolescents. Children who experience a burn injury are significantly more likely to develop poor mental health outcomes compared to a non-injured population, regardless of how severe the burn injury is. We think this is due to many factors, such as long hospital stays, scarring, and painful wounds that can take a long time to heal. It is important to provide good psychological care after a burn injury, however this is not always the case, and limited research has been done in understanding the psychological outcomes of burn injuries for children.
- Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth after Burn: A Review of Barriers, Enablers, and Interventions to Improve Psychological Recovery
- The psychological impact of paediatric burn injuries: a systematic review
- “I just get scared it’s going to happen again”: a qualitative study of the psychosocial impact of pediatric burns from the child’s perspective
- “It’s a big trauma for the family”: A qualitative insight into the psychological trauma of paediatric burns from the perspective of mothers
Our team on the Wellbeing project are trying to understand the psychological outcomes of a burn injury and are employing a brief co-designed trauma-focused intervention to help children and their families build up resilience and good mental health following a burn injury.
More information: Please contact Alix Woolard on (08) 6319 1823 or alix.woolard@telethonkids.org.au
Funders of the project:
Channel 7 Telethon Trust