Young, scarred children and their mothers--a short-term investigation into the practical, psychological and social implications of thermal injury to the preschool child. Part I: Implications for the mother.

A short-term, prospective study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, was designed to determine the practical, psychological and social implications of thermal injury resulting in scarring, for the mothers of thermally injured children, during the 6 months following the child's discharge from hospital. Mothers of 57 thermally injured children under 5 years of age were interviewed whilst the child was in hospital and at home, at 1 week, 2 months and 6 months following hospital discharge. Thermal injuries ranged from 1 to 41 per cent of body surface area and all required skin grafting. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts resulted in the development of a model of the mother's response--The Maternal Thermal Injury Response Pattern (MTIRP)--which describes a phasic pattern of general response categories. The mothers' psychiatric morbidity was measured using Goldberg's (1978) 60-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The mean of the mothers' total GHQ scores was 2.42 for the retrospective, pre-injury score, 24.5 at the hospital interview and 5.96 at 6 months following the child's discharge from hospital. In conclusion, the mother is a neglected victim of a young child's thermal injury. Use of the MTIRP as an educational tool for carers would promote increased understanding and, thus, more appropriate support.