Preventing Long Term Psychiatric Disability Among Those With Major Burn Injuries

Importance: Burns are painful, life threatening and disfiguring. Severe psychological distress, pain and sleep disturbance are among the most common, enduring and disabling of secondary complications, however, no evidence based treatments exists for these complex problems in the acute burn care setting.

Design: Randomized, controlled effectiveness trial, group assignment blinded to baseline status, groups stratified by history of pre-existing psychiatric disorder.

Objectives. To develop the Safety, Meaning, Activation and Resilience Training (SMART) protocol; To evaluate its short and long-term effectiveness, relative to viable placebo, Supportive Counseling (SC), in improving key dependent measures (e.g., ASD, PTSD), mediators, and, enhancing health and function outcomes.

Setting: A leading edge, State-dedicated, regional burn center in a major, metropolitan teaching hospital serving diverse residents from large urban settings, small towns and remote rural areas.

Interventions: SMART (focused cognitive-behavioral therapy with training in anxiety management, and treatment with prolonged exposure and cognitive restructuring) will be contrasted with SC (non-directive empathy, warmth, positive regard).

Primary Outcome Measures: Health (psychological distress, sleep, pain), function (physical, psychological, social), costs (direct and indirect).

Inclusion criteria

• 18 to 70 years old
• acute burn injury
• exceeding criteria on screening instrument at baseline (in-hospital prior to treatment): Acute Stress Disorder Scale (ASDS score ≥ 37: acute posttrauma distress).

Exclusion criteria

• Age less than 18 or greater than 70 years
• Presence of a significant cognitive / neurological or psychiatric condition precluding informed consent (e.g., psychosis, acute suicidality)
• Inability to communicate in English
• intubated or sedated