Do Psychological Factors, Pain, and Sleep Quality Correlate With Disability and Occupational Performance in Hand Burns?

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Burn injuries are one of the most common traumas after traffic accidents, falls, and interpersonal violence. This study was done to investigate the correlation between psychological factors, pain, and sleep quality, and disability and occupational performance in subjects with hand and upper extremity burns. Methods: A total of 80 patients with hand and upper extremity burn injuries (16 females and 64 males) with a Mean±SD age of 39.9±10.79 years, mean burn depth (Deep Partial Thickness/ Full Thickness) of 3.42±2.66, and Mean±SD burns extent 1.06±0.24 participated in this non-experimental cross-sectional study using a non-probability sampling method. Their psychological disorders were measured using the Beck Anxiety Disorder Scale and the Self-Rating Depression Scale. The pain was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale, sleep quality was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), disability was assessed using the Shortened Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) Questionnaire, level of independence in daily living activity was measured by the Modified Barthel Index, and occupational performance was measured by the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Results: Psychological factors, pain, and sleep quality were significantly correlated with disability and occupational performance. The regression models explained up to 34.4% of the variance for disability outcome and 12.4% for occupational performance. By assessing the correlation between the psychological disorders, pain, and sleep quality, and disability and occupational performance in these patients, we found that sleep quality was the strongest contributing factor Followed by PSQI. Conclusion: Sleep quality is one of the important factors affecting the occupational performance of patients with hand and upper extremity burns injury that should be considered by therapists.