The abbreviated burn specific pain anxiety scale: a multicenter study

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Burn Care
• Psychological Assessment

Background:

• Pain-related anxiety is a significant concern for burn patients.
• Assessing anxiety levels is crucial for effective treatment and recovery.
• Existing measures may not fully capture the nuances of anxiety in burn survivors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate pain-related anxiety levels across different burn severities.
• To introduce and validate a new, reliable scale for measuring pain-related anxiety in burn patients.
• To compare anxiety levels between patients with small, moderate, and extensive burns.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 173 burn patients was categorized into three groups based on burn size: small, moderate, and extensive.
• Patients' pain-related anxiety was assessed using a rating scale.
• The newly developed abbreviated Burn Specific Pain Anxiety Scale (BSPAS) was administered and its reliability analyzed.

Main Results:

• Patients with extensive burns reported significantly higher levels of pain-related anxiety compared to those with small and moderate burns.
• Anxiety was elevated both before and during medical procedures for extensive burn patients.
• The abbreviated Burn Specific Pain Anxiety Scale (BSPAS) demonstrated high reliability, with high alpha coefficients for its subscales.

Conclusions:

• Burn severity is directly associated with the degree of pain-related anxiety.
• The abbreviated Burn Specific Pain Anxiety Scale (BSPAS) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing pain-related anxiety in clinical burn populations.
• Findings support the need for targeted psychological support for patients with extensive burns.