Can a Self-care Educational Mobile Application Improve the Quality of Life of Victims With Hand Burns? A Randomized Controlled Trial

Hand burns are among the most destructive types of burns, imposing significant limitations on the performance and occupation of individuals. Accordingly, this injury induces many negative effects on the quality of life (QOL) of patients. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to assess the effect of a self-care educational mobile application on the QOL of victim patients with hand burns.

The present randomized controlled trial included 60 burn victims admitted to the Burn Center of Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran. The intervention group used the hand burn self-care application upon their admission up to 2 months after their hospital discharge while the controls only received the ordinary training presented in the burn center. All patients completed the Burn-Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B) questionnaire before and 2 months after the intervention. Finally, data were analyzed using an independent t test, along with chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests in SPSS 21.

Two months after using the hand burn self-care application, the total mean score for the QOL of burn victims increased from 80.4±17.9 to 182.5±15.6 and 74.8±15.3 to 122.4±19.7 in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P<0.001).

According to our results, using the self-care burn mobile application can improve the QOL of burn victims. Consequently, the use of this tool can be proposed as part of the treatment and rehabilitation procedures for these patients.