Parental adjustment following paediatric burn injury - version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Parental adjustment following paediatric burn injury: the role of guilt, shame and self-compassion
IRAS ID
192272
Contact name
Peter Taylor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research aims to recruit parents of children who have sustained a burn injury. While most research to date has focused on the experience of the child, this study will consider the parents’ adjustment to their child’s burn injury. This is an important research agenda as parents are often more psychologically affected by the burn accident than the children themselves and parental adjustment may have direct implications for the child.
The study will investigate the relationship between a number of factors that have been hypothesised to impact parents’ adjustment. Firstly, it aims to identify factors which may put some parents at risk of poorer adjustment. These are feeling of guilt and shame. Secondly, it will examine self-compassion, a factor associated with increased resilience. Self-compassion is defined as the propensity to engage in self-kindness in response to difficult events or perceived self-inadequacy. Adjustment will be measured in terms of parents’ experience of symptoms of traumatic stress, depression and anxiety.
Data will take the form of six self-administered measures which will take participants no more than 30 minute to complete. There will be the option to complete paper copies of the measures or an online version. Basic data on the child’s burn injury will be provided by the burns unit, where parents consent to this. The study aims to recruit 71 primary caregivers of children under the age of 16 who have sustained a burn injury within the previous 6 weeks. Participants will be recruited from the burns unit at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool. Parents will be approach either at outpatient dressing clinics or on the ward before discharge.
The research will have direct implications for service-provision within burns units. For instance, the findings may allow for early identification of at risk families and potential targets for psychological interventions.REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NE/0427
Date of REC Opinion
10 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion