Traumatic burn injuries : mothering the acutely hospitalised adult child

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

This study aims to explore the experience of mothers, within the context of their young adult child being acutely hospitalised as a result of a traumatic bum injury. Seven mothers of hospitalised young adult children aged between 17 and 25 years, who had sustained an acute bum injury, were interviewed for this study. Findings have significant implications for social work practice within an adult healthcare context, as previous research has focused only on pediatric populations. Using a phenomenological approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the role of motherhood, the specific stressors that mothers experience, and the ways in which they cope when their young adult child sustains an acute bum injury. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted using Ethnograph5 Software Package. The study identified the importance of the attachment between the mother and adult child. The attachment process is considered pivotal to the experience of motherhood and is reflected through the maternal roles of nurturance and protection and the mothers' perceived obligation of 'proximity'. The mothers' role also involves the responsibility of attending to the practical and emotional needs within the family. Restrictions placed on mothers' roles, unmet informational needs, and gaps in collaborative care processes, were identified as stressors for mothers. Additionally, the transfer of their young adult child to centralised specialist bum services resulted in maternal role strain for these mothers. Mothers identified several coping strategies that they used in order to adapt to the crisis. These included reframing the crisis situation, establishing a daily routine, breaking the day into timeframes, planful problemsolving, and seeking support. Mothers felt that maintaining emotional strength was fundamentally important to enable them to fulfil their maternal role of providing practical and emotional support to their injured child and family. This study shows that a clearly defined collaborative care process between the mother and treating team would better enable mothers to fulfil their maternal role and support the attachment between the mother and young adult child. An understanding of the specific stressors experienced by mothers and the coping strategies that mothers use, will allow social workers in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team to tailor interventions that are compatible with the needs of mothers and enhance mothers' capacity to support their acutely injured child. Ultimately, this will result in better psychosocial adjustment and improved outcomes for young adult bum patients and their families.