Long-term posttraumatic stress symptoms vary inversely with early opiate dosing in children recovering from serious burns: effects durable at 4 years.

Background: Children surviving serious burns are at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a function both of the injury and of its treatment. Short-term studies in such children have demonstrated reduced PTSD symptoms with intensive early pain control. However, the long-term impact of early pain control strategies on posttraumatic stress symptoms in children recovering from serious burn injuries has not been examined.

Test performance characteristics of a case-finding psychosocial questionnaire for children with burn injuries and their families.

Background: The Long-Form Psychosocial Questionnaire (LFPQ) includes full versions of the Child Stress Reaction Checklist, the Family Environment Scale, and the Parenting Stress Index. Condensed versions of these measures were used to create a Short-Form Psychosocial Questionnaire (SFPQ) that could be used as an indicator of child well-being and specific areas of child, parent, and family functioning in children aged 0 years to 18 years with burn injury.

Methods: Parents of 830 children aged 0 years to 18 years with acute burn injury from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Multi-Center Benchmarking Study completed the LFPQ at baseline and follow-up visits up to 48 months at four major burn centers.

Adolescent survivors of burn injuries and their parents' perceptions of recovery outcomes: do they agree or disagree?

Background: This study analyzed the concordance of parent and child in assessing the progress of child and adolescent survivors of burn injuries using health outcomes.

Methods: The American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire (BOQ) was completed by 355 pairs of parents and their 11- to 18-year-old adolescents who experienced a burn injury. These patients completed BOQ child/parent questionnaire pairs at four regional pediatric burn care centers nationally during the first 4 years postburn.

The effect of family characteristics on the recovery of burn injuries in children.

Background: Interactions between family members and characteristics of family life and function may affect a child's recovery from burn injury. We prospectively examined the relationship between family characteristics and physical and psychosocial recovery from burns.

Methods: The families of 399 burned children aged 5 years to 18 years admitted to one of four Shriners Hospitals for Children for management of acute burns completed the Family Environment Scale within 7 days of admission and then the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Outcome Questionnaire (BOQ) at baseline, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 months.

Measuring the cost of care for children with acute burn injury.

Background: There have been few studies on costs of burn treatment. Furthermore, quantifying the actual cost of care at the patient level is hindered by anomalies of our insurance system. This article presents a practical method for determining the cost of caring for pediatric burn patients, using a cohort of patients from the Multi-Center Benchmarking Study at the Shriners Hospitals for Children-Boston and allows an estimate of resource use that may be linked to need or to best practices, without the confounding variable of inconsistent billing practices.

Impact of hand burns on health-related quality of life in children younger than 5 years.

Background: The purpose of this multicenter study was to evaluate the impact of hand burn injury in preschool children younger than 5 years on health-related quality of life, including both physical and psychosocial function, in the 5 years after burn injury.

Methods: This prospective case series assessed children younger than 5 years admitted to four pediatric burn centers. Each child's family completed the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Outcome Questionnaire (BOQ), a validated and reliable assessment tool, which measures the physical and psychosocial functioning of the child with burn injury ages 0 year to 5 years, at baseline, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 months after discharge.

Reliability and validity of the Dutch version of the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospital for Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire (5-18 years of age).

The American Burn Association/Shriners Hospital for Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire (BOQ) is a self-administered questionnaire to monitor functional outcome after burns in children and adolescents. This study aimed to assess feasibility, reliability, and validity of the Dutch BOQ. The BOQ was adapted into Dutch and tested in a population of children and adolescents aged 5 to 15 years who were primary admissions to a Dutch or Belgian burn center (n = 6) during the period of March 2001 through February 2004.