Examination of quality of life in attendants of burn patients and the influential factors

The purpose of this research is to examine quality of life in attendants of burn patients and the factors affecting it. This research was conducted as a descriptive and relational research at the adult and pediatric burn units of Inonu University, Turgut Ozal Medical Center between June 2012 and June 2013. Since the population size was unknown, the research population consisted of patient attendants who attended the patients being treated in the burn units at least for two weeks, who were literate and able to communicate, who were older than 18 and did not have any diagnosed mental problem. After a power analysis, the sample consisted of 200 patient attendants who attended the patients being treated in the burn units. The patient attendants were selected from the population using the non-probability random sampling method. The data were collected between July and December 2012. A personal descriptive form and the short version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument Turkish Version (WHOQOL-BREF) were used in collecting the data. The data were evaluated with descriptive statistics, t test in independent groups, Kruscal Wallis Variance Analysis, ANOVA and Mann Whitney U test. It was found that 58% of the attendants who took part in the study were women, 82% of them were married, 56% had their income less than their expenses and 17% had a chronic disease. Factors such as the attendant being a woman, married with 3-4 children, a graduate of primary school, having less income than their expenses, having a chronic disease as well as factors such as attending patients with a low mean age, who has pain, sleeping problems, eating problems and anxiety, living together with the patient and obtaining help from family members during attendance were found to affect quality of life negatively. Factors such as the attendant?s employment status, any loss of organs in the patient and shortness of breath as well as the number of persons attending the patient did not affect quality of life. Substitution of attendants can be recommended to enable especially those attendants who attend patients with a low mean age, who have pain, sleeping problems, eating problems and anxiety to spare time also for themselves. Key words: Burn patient, Attendant, Quality of life