Depression in mothers of burned children

The treatment of burned children needs to address also their psychic state. Since the child's emotional state depends heavily on the emotional state of its parents, especially the mother's, interest should also be focused on diagnosing and treating secondary psychiatric disorders in mothers of burned children. The AIM of this work was to study the prevalence of depression in mothers of burned children and its predicting factors.

The enrolment of mothers of burned children was done in the Burns Department, Ibn Rushd University Hospital in Casablanca, Morocco. Twenty-eight mothers of seriously burned children agreed to participate in this study. A psychiatric interview was conducted after informed consent was obtained. The mothers completed a questionnaire; the diagnosis was made according to DSM IV criteria using the Mini International Neuro-psychiatric Interview (MINI). The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale were used to evaluate respectively the intensity of depression and the level of anxiety. Social functioning was assessed by the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF). The minimum time interval between the child's being burned and the interview with the mother was one month.

The prevalence of depression was 35.7%, which is much higher in the mothers of burned children as compared to the general population. Several risk factors were found such as: several burned children or burn of the only child, severity and complications of burn, and the socio-economic level.

Depression is a common disorder in mothers of burned children. Thus early screening for depression in mothers and psychological and psychiatric support must be provided in conjunction with the treatment of the burned child.