Dr Lisa Martin¹, Professor Fiona Wood^1,2

¹University Of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia, ²Burn Service of Western Australia, Murdoch, Australia

Abstract:

Following acute burn injury, children cope with intense pain, shock and grief and their parents and families cope with guilt, blame and distress (Bakker et al., 2013, McGarry et al., 2014).  In the longer term, they need to manage the psychological, emotional and social consequences of long-term scarring, functional problems and aesthetic issues.  Burn severity does not predict  psychosocial recovery, and paediatric burn injury leads to 3-5 times more hospital admissions for mental health issues (Duke et al., 2018).

Eight online learning modules were developed to educate about psychosocial care; five for staff, two for parents, and one for schools/community leaders. This online training program teaches about paediatric medical traumatic stress, how to recognise distress signals and needs, provides knowledge, tools, and strategies to support patients and families. Importantly, messaging is consistent with the key messages taught to staff are mirrored in the parent and community modules. The program is easily accessible on different digital devices, enabling access by parents at any time day or night via their mobile device.

This poster will present the program, its development process and will report preliminary findings for a qualitative evaluation of the parent and community modules.

BAKKER, A., MAERTENS, K. J., VAN SON, M. J. & VAN LOEY, N. E. 2013. Psychological consequences of pediatric burns from a child and family perspective: A review of the empirical literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 361-371.

DUKE, J. M., RANDALL, S. M., BOYD, J. H., WOOD, F. M., FEAR, M. W. & REA, S. 2018. A population-based retrospective cohort study to assess the mental health of patients after a non-intentional burn compared with uninjured people. Burns, 44, 1417-1426.

MCGARRY, S., ELLIOTT, C., MCDONALD, A., VALENTINE, J., WOOD, F. & GIRDLER, S. 2014. Paediatric burns: from the voice of the child. Burns, 40, 606-15.

Biography:

Lisa has worked in burns research for the past ten years. Her nursing background was in critical care, followed by clinical trials and research nursing in general medicine and cardiology. She has completed a PhD in psychological recovery after adult burn and continued post-doctoral studies in this area.