Abstract
Background
The concept quality of life (QOL) refers to both health-related outcomes and one’s skills to reach these outcomes, which is not yet incorporated in the burn-related QOL conceptualisation. The aim of this study was to obtain a comprehensive overview of relevant burn-specific domains of QOL from the patient’s perspective and to determine its hierarchical structure.
Methods
Concept mapping was used comprising a focus group (n = 6), interviews (n = 25), and a card-sorting task (n = 24) in burn survivors. Participants sorted aspects of QOL based on content similarity after which hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine the hierarchical structure of burn-related QOL.
Results
Ninety-nine aspects of burn-related QOL were selected from the interviews, written on cards, and sorted. The hierarchical structure of burn-related QOL showed a core distinction between resilience and vulnerability. Resilience comprised the domains positive coping and social sharing. Vulnerability included 5 domains subdivided in 13 subdomains: the psychological domain included trauma-related symptoms, cognitive symptoms, negative emotions, body perception and depressive mood; the economical domain comprised finance and work; the social domain included stigmatisation/invalidation; the physical domain comprised somatic symptoms, scars, and functional limitations; and the intimate/sexual domain comprised the relationship with partner, and anxiety/avoidance in sexual life.
Conclusion
From the patient’s perspective, QOL following burns includes a variety of vulnerability and resilience factors, which forms a fresh basis for the development of a screening instrument. Whereas some factors are well known, this study also revealed overlooked problem and resilience areas that could be considered in client-centred clinical practice in order to customize self-management support.
The concept quality of life (QOL) refers to both health-related outcomes and one’s skills to reach these outcomes, which is not yet incorporated in the burn-related QOL conceptualisation. The aim of this study was to obtain a comprehensive overview of relevant burn-specific domains of QOL from the patient’s perspective and to determine its hierarchical structure.
Methods
Concept mapping was used comprising a focus group (n = 6), interviews (n = 25), and a card-sorting task (n = 24) in burn survivors. Participants sorted aspects of QOL based on content similarity after which hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine the hierarchical structure of burn-related QOL.
Results
Ninety-nine aspects of burn-related QOL were selected from the interviews, written on cards, and sorted. The hierarchical structure of burn-related QOL showed a core distinction between resilience and vulnerability. Resilience comprised the domains positive coping and social sharing. Vulnerability included 5 domains subdivided in 13 subdomains: the psychological domain included trauma-related symptoms, cognitive symptoms, negative emotions, body perception and depressive mood; the economical domain comprised finance and work; the social domain included stigmatisation/invalidation; the physical domain comprised somatic symptoms, scars, and functional limitations; and the intimate/sexual domain comprised the relationship with partner, and anxiety/avoidance in sexual life.
Conclusion
From the patient’s perspective, QOL following burns includes a variety of vulnerability and resilience factors, which forms a fresh basis for the development of a screening instrument. Whereas some factors are well known, this study also revealed overlooked problem and resilience areas that could be considered in client-centred clinical practice in order to customize self-management support.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 747-756 |
| Journal | Burns |
| Volume | 43 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- Burns
- QOL
- Vulnerability
- Resilience
- Trauma
- Patients’ perspective