92 Is Virtual Burn Camp as Effective as In-Person Burn Camp?

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Burn camps provide a safe haven for child burn survivors to socialize and participate in recreational activities away from the unwanted stares from the public. But when a worldwide pandemic forced one of the world’s largest burn camps to forgo an in-person camp and pivot to a virtual camp, would the virtual burn camp prove as effective as an in-person burn camp? Methods In a 4-year retrospective review of camper evaluations within 2017–2020, we aimed to assess if the campers’ evaluation responses of virtual camp were consistent with their responses from past in-person camp evaluations. Camper self-evaluation forms were reviewed to record camper responses to questions regarding their opinions on camp. Camp rosters were reviewed to determine which campers attended virtual Burn Camp in 2020 as well as in-person Burn Camp among the years 2017–2019, and matched sample comparisons were reviewed (2020 vs. 2017; 2020 vs. 2018 and 2020 vs. 2019). Categorical variables were summarized as frequency and percentage, and continuous variables were described as median and range. To assess if the responses to each question were consistent between 2020 vs. 2017, 2018 and 2019, McNemar’s test was used. Statistical significance was declared based on a p value< 0.05. Results Within 2017–2020, there were 444 camper evaluations submitted. In 2020, there were 137 registered campers. Sample size of this study was small due to a low response rate to evaluation form requests from virtual Burn Camp participants. There were 31 individual completed evaluations forms (23% response rate). Among 31 campers, 20, 22 and 20 campers attended 2017, 2018, and 2019 in-person Burn Camp, respectively. Participants’ demographic characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Comparisons between 2020 vs. 2017, 2018 and 2019, in general, the campers’ responses were consistent. However, for Question #8 (Did you learn anything new from the other burn survivors at this event?) in 2020, more people (n=8) answered Not/A little while they answered Yes/Mostly in 2019 (p=0.046). Participants’ responses to Question#8 are summarized in Tables 2 and 3. Conclusions Virtual Burn Camp was generally as effective as in-person Burn Camp in almost all areas of assessment, except for the ability for burn-injured children to learn from other burn-injured children. The virtual Burn Camp model provided some interaction between counselors and campers, but did not allow for much interaction between campers, resulting in a greater response of “A Little” or “Not at All” to the question “Did you learn anything new from the other burn survivors at this event?”