Body image, mood and quality of life in young burn survivors

This study looks at the body image, mood and quality of life of a group of 36 young people aged between 11 and 19 years who had burns as children, compared with an age-matched control group of 41 young people who had not had these injuries. Participants completed the Body Esteem Scale (BES), the Satisfaction With Appearance Scale (SWAP), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Youth Quality of Life Questionnaire (YQOL). It was hypothesised that young burn survivors would report more dissatisfaction with their appearance, a lower mood and a lower quality of life compared with non-injured controls. However, young burn survivors reported significantly more positive evaluations of how others view their appearance (p = 0.018), more positive weight satisfaction (p = 0.001) and a higher quality of life (p = 0.005) than the control group. They also reported more positive general feelings about their appearance, although this was just below the level for statistical significance (p = 0.067) and a similar mood to the school sample (p = 0.824). The data suggest that young burn survivors appear to be coping well in comparison to their peers, and in some areas may be coping better, in spite of living with the physical, psychological and social consequences of burns.