The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective

This research documents adult South African burn survivors' experiences of their lives and how their burns have affected them. The research question of the study was "How does a burn injury shape the life narratives of adult South African burn survivors?" In order to answer this, seven participants living in the Western Cape province of South Africa with a variety of demographics were interviewed utilising semi-structured interviews. A qualitative narrative analysis took place of these interviews- making use of the theoretical framework that the self, and experience, is created and understood through narrative. The results were then compared with the existing literature around trauma and narrative and similarities and differences were analysed. The predominant findings were that burn survivors had to deal with multiple traumas relating to their burn, the physical and psychological recovery from the injury, as well as their scarring and disfigurement. It was found that the experience and understanding of the trauma was created and maintained on a social level through norms and values, interpersonally through interactions with other people, as well as through the personal meaning that was made by the individual survivor. In all of the cases, the trauma represented a major disruption in the life narratives of the survivors. However with three of the participants, they said that other social issues in their lives (such as poverty) were more salient disruptions in their lives, and that their burn exacerbated their other difficulties. While all of the survivors talked about how difficult dealing with their burning and scarring has been, five of the seven participants defended against this difficulty by seeing their traumas as points in their lives where they felt like they improved as human beings. Four of the participants said that if they could have their lives over that they would choose to be burnt again, due to the sense of being improved or moulded constructively by their traumas.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Swartz, Sally

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8180

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8180