Aspects of sexuality after burn injury: outcomes in men.

A review of the literature provided documentation of a vital link between sexuality and one's adjustment to an acquired disability, such as disfiguring burns. Descriptive correlational research was used to study: (1) the relationship between severity of burn injury and sexual-esteem, sexual-depression, and sexual-preoccupation in burn-injured men, ages 19 to 39 years, and (2) the relationship between selected sociodemographic variables (age, marital status, educational level, ethnicity, length of time since burn injury, and length of time since discharge from the burn unit) and sexual-esteem, sexual-depression, and sexual-preoccupation. The convenience sample consisted of 40 male burn survivors treated and discharged from a burn unit in the southeastern United States within the past 11 years. Statistically significant direct relationships were demonstrated between sexual-preoccupation and sexual-esteem, whereas inverse relationships were demonstrated between age and sexual-preoccupation and also between sexual-esteem and sexual-depression. No relationship was demonstrated between severity of burn and sexual-esteem, sexual-depression, and sexual-preoccupation.