@article{ref1,
title="Return to work and health-related quality of life after burn injury",
journal="Journal of rehabilitation medicine",
year="2007",
author="Dyster-Aas, Johan and Kildal, Morten and Willebrand, Mimmie",
volume="39",
number="1",
pages="49-55",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Although severe burn injury is associated with long-term rehabilitation and disability, research on returning to work in burn patients is limited. The aims of this study were: (i) to explore injury- and personality-related predictors of returning to work, and (ii) to compare health-related quality of life and health outcome in working versus non-working individuals. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: Forty-eight former patients with pre-burn employment were evaluated on average 3.8 years after the burn. METHODS: Data were collected from medical records and by a questionnaire in which the patients were asked about their main activity status described in the terms: work, studies, pension, disability pension, sick leave or unemployment. It also contained the Swedish universities Scales of Personality, SF-36, Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief, items assessing fear-avoidance, Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent had not returned to work. In logistic regression, returning to work was associated with time since injury, the extent of full-thickness injuries, and the personality trait embitterment. Those who did not work had lower health-related quality of life, poorer burn-specific health, more fear-avoidance and more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, but they did not differ from those who were working regarding general mood. CONCLUSION: Returning to work was explained by both injury severity and personality characteristics. Those who did not work were characterized by low health-related quality of life and poorer trauma-related physical and psychological health.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1650-1977",
doi="10.2340/16501977-0005",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2340/16501977-0005"
}