Objective To explore the development trajectories of quality of life and acceptance of disability of burn patients in the rehabilitation treatment stage and the influencing factors.
Methods Totally 207 burn patients, including 157 males and 50 females, aged (40±13) years, who were in the rehabilitation treatment stage were selected by convenient sampling method from October 2016 to July 2017 in the Department of Burns of Fujian Medical University Union Hospital for this longitudinal study. At discharge and 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge, the patient′s quality of life and acceptance of disability were scored using the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief and Chinese Version of Acceptance of Disability Scale-Revised respectively. Taking the intercept, the slope, and the curve slope as latent variables, the latent second growth curve model was constructed for the quality of life and the acceptance of disability. The robust maximum likelihood estimation (MLR) method was used to estimate the mean, the variance, and the covariance, so as to analyze the discharge level, the growth rate, the acceleration, and the correlation among them. Taking the acceptance of disability, the gender, the cause of burn, the severity of burn, the existence of complications, the payment way, and the education level as covariates, the latent second growth curve model was constructed for the quality of life. The MLR method was used to estimate the influence of covariates on the discharge level, the growth rate, and the acceleration of the quality of life.
Results At discharge and 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge, the quality of life scores of patients were (102±36), (111±36), (118±37), and (122±37) points respectively, and the acceptance of disability scores were (73±17), (75±17), (77±17), and (78±18) points respectively. The estimated mean intercept of the quality of life and the acceptance of disability were 101.680 and 72.993 respectively at discharge, both of which showed a curve increasing trend in 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge (estimated mean slope=11.024, 3.086,
t=15.376, 7.476,
P<0.01), and the increasing rate (acceleration) gradually slowed down (estimated mean curve slope=-1.393, -0.426,
t=-13.339, -4.776,
P<0.01). There were significant individual differences in the discharge level and the acceleration of quality of life of patients (estimated intercept variance=1 174.527,
t=9.332; estimated curve slope variance=2.379,
t=6.402;
P<0.01). There were significant individual differences in the discharge level, the growth rate, and the acceleration of patients′ acceptance of disability (estimated intercept variance=267.017,
t=9.262; estimated slope variance=32.264,
t=2.356; estimated curve slope variance=0.882,
t=2.939;
P<0.05 or
P<0.01). There was no significant correlation among the discharge level, the growth rate, and the acceleration of the quality of life and those of the acceptance of disability of patients (estimated intercept and slope=37.273, -1.457,
t=0.859, -0.131; estimated intercept and curve slope=-6.712, -0.573,
t=-1.089, -0.248; estimated slope and curve slope=-5.494, -5.988,
t=-0.930, -2.512;
P>0.05). Among the time-constant covariates, only the severity of burn and the presence of complications had a significant impact on the quality of life of patients at discharge (estimated intercept=-10.721, 5.522,
t=-6.229, 1.977,
P<0.05 or
P<0.01). At discharge and 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge, the level of acceptance of disability had a positive impact on the quality of life of patients (standardized regression coefficient=0.616, 0.669, 0.681, 0.678,
t=18.874, 21.660, 22.824, 22.123,
P<0.01).
Conclusions The initial levels of quality of life and acceptance of disability of burn patients in the rehabilitation treatment stage are relatively low, both with a curve increasing trend over time, and the increasing rate gradually slows down. Patients with complications and serious burns have poor quality of life at discharge, while the acceptance of disability has a positive impact on the quality of life.