Psychosocial Support Following Maxillofacial Trauma and its Impact on Trauma Recurrence.

Background: Injuries sustained to the maxillofacial region can result in significant physical trauma and long lasting psychosocial impairment. Maxillofacial trauma has been reported in literature to be a potentially recurrent disease. Patients who suffer maxillofacial trauma can benefit from psychological support.

Aim: This study aims to identify maxillofacial trauma patient characteristics, investigate maxillofacial re-injury rate after provision of psychological support and report incidence of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms after maxillofacial trauma.

Method: A total of 100 patients were identified from the departmental trauma database over two time periods at Royal Darwin Hospital; 50 patients did not have psychosocial intervention and 50 patients received intervention. Data on demographics, trauma pattern and aetiology were collected. A brief counselling session was conducted on second patient group by a trained mental health nurse and a survey using Trauma Screening Questionnaire was completed one month following injury.

Results: The most common cause of injuries was assault in both groups followed by falls and the most common site of injuries was in the mandible in both groups. Almost half of all patients were in the15-24 and 25-34 age groups. 17 % of patients in pre-intervention period and 4 % of patients in intervention period had injury recurrence at 3 year follow up. Patient groups at risk of developing post traumatic symptoms included male, non-indigenous population, employed group with no alcohol involvement.

Conclusion: Maxillofacial trauma can cause considerable psychological morbidity and expose the patient to high risk of post traumatic disorder symptoms. This type of injury was found to affect particular groups of population and is associated with high rate of recurrence. Psychological support should be provided to these patients as a routine part of trauma aftercare.