The course of posttraumatic stress symptoms in couples in relation to parental emotions and appraisal following pediatric burns

A pediatric burn event severely disrupts the life of parents involved. In order to identify which parents of children may need support, we examined the course and predictors of parents’ posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after a burn event to their child (8 to 18 years old). 111 mothers and 91 fathers completed the Impact of Event Scale at four time points, up to 18 months postburn. Predictors included parental emotions related to the burn event and appraisal of threat to the child’s life, which were investigated in a multilevel regression model. Within the first month postburn, 48% of the mothers and 26% of the fathers reported clinically significant PTSS, which decreased to respectively 19% and 4% 18 months postburn. Feelings of guilt and anger related to the burn event, and perceived life threat were significantly related to parental PTSS, especially in mothers. Results indicate that clinical levels of PTSS may persist in a subgroup of parents following pediatric burns and that predictors of PTSS can be identified in the first months postburn. Findings will be discussed in terms of the need to incorporate parent support in burn care, especially for mothers experiencing high levels of emotions during the (sub)acute phase.