Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 May-Aug;21(2):182-91.
doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.156492.

Preserving self-concept in the burn survivors: a qualitative study

Vahid Zamanzadeh  1 , Llila Valizadeh  1 , Mojgan Lotfi  1 , Feridoon Salehi  2
Affiliations

Preserving self-concept in the burn survivors: a qualitative study

Vahid Zamanzadeh et al. Indian J Palliat Care. 2015 May-Aug.

Abstract

Background: Burn injury is a devastating experience affecting all aspects of a person's essence, including his/her identity and perception. These patients require complex cognitive efforts to redefine their identity to deal with difficult condition after burn injury and preserve self-concept. The experience of life after burn injury is generally a solitary one, closely related to the patients' cultural and religious context. Therefore, this study was conducted aiming at investigating burn patients' experiences regarding how to preserve self-concept in life after burn injury in Iran.

Materials and methods: This qualitative study was carried out using qualitative content analysis and in-depth unstructured interviews with 17 surviving burn subjects.

Results: During the qualitative content analysis process, the concept of "locating" as the essence of the participants' experience was extracted as follows: (A) self-exploration (exploring the changes in one's life), (B) others' exploration (exploring the changes in the life of family members and the relationship between self and others), (C) position evaluation (self-position analysis), and (D) self-concept preservation.

Conclusion: The present study has developed new understandings of mental experiences of burn patients' self-concept by describing the concept of "self-locating". It helps us in classifying and understanding the concepts described in comprehensive theories developed in this area. They do this by focusing on what burn patients experience for choosing self-preservation strategies and having a meaningful life. The finding can be used as a conceptual framework for palliative care program in Iran.

Keywords: Burn survivors; Iran; Qualitative study; Self-concept.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. Peck MD. Epidemiology of burns throughout the world. Part I: Distribution and risk factors. Burns. 2011;37:1087–100. - PubMed
    1. Sadeghi-Bazargani H, Mohammadi R. Epidemiology of burns in Iran during the last decade (2000-2010): Review of literature and methodological considerations. Burns. 2012;38:319–29. - PubMed
    1. Othman N, Kendrick D. Epidemiology of burn injuries in the East Mediterranean Region: A systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2010;10:83. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alinia S, Rezaei S, Daroudi R, Hadadi M, Akbari Sari A. Extent, nature and hospital costs of fireworks-related injuries during the Wednesday Eve festival in Iran. J Inj Violence Res. 2013;5:11–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pereira C, Murphy K, Herndon D. Outcome measures in burn care. Is mortality dead? Burns. 2004;30:761–71. - PubMed