A comprehensive nurse-led aftercare programme addressing post-burn sexual well-being of adult burn survivors: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Sexual well-being is a key part of being human yet often remains shrouded in secrecy and poorly addressed in the clinical setting. The impact of burns and its long-term sequelae often lead to concerns regarding body image disturbance, self-esteem issues, and interpersonal challenges which can impact on an individual's sexual well-being. However, existing post-burn rehabilitation programmes usually lack components addressing concerns regarding sexual well-being. As a part of a larger project, we developed a nurse-led aftercare programme, and this study sought to examine the effects of the programme in addressing the post-burn sexual well-being of adult burn survivors.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial approach was used. Sixty burn survivors aged ≥ 18 years with burn size ≥ 10% total burn surface area were assigned to intervention and control groups. Participants in the intervention group underwent the nurse-led aftercare programme which involved pre-discharge support and proactive follow-up support over 8 weeks. The sexuality subscale of the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief was used to evaluate the outcome of interest. Data were collected at three timepoints: baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and follow-up (T2).

Results: Using a corrected p value of 0.017, the study observed only statistically significant time effect at both T1 and T2. Both group and interaction effects were statistically insignificant for this outcome.

Conclusion: Issues regarding sexual well-being are often considered sacred and may be challenging to discuss. Thus, a longer duration of the intervention may be considered with ongoing training of practitioners to identify and resolve emerging challenges. Despite the non-significant interaction and group effects, including sexual well-being support in post-burns rehabilitation programmes will facilitate access to and utilisation of the service among burn survivors who may need it.

Trial registration: Prospectively registered on 14th August 2020.

Clinicaltrials: govNCT04517721.