• Rhianydd Thomas, Marita Dale, Stephanie Wicks, Claire Toose, Madeleine Jacques, and Verity Pacey.
• Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia; Burns Unit, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: rhianydd.thomas@hdr.mq.edu.au.
• Burns. 2024 Feb 1; 50 (1): 146156146-156.

BackgroundParents may experience challenges implementing their child's therapeutic treatment following burn.MethodsA mixed methods study was conducted to explore the parent experience of intensive splinting following palmar burns in young children (median age 16 months [IQR 14]). Thirteen parents were interviewed after cessation of their child's splinting (mean 12 months [SD 2] following burn). Parent interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions and conducted one-to-one. Inductive thematic analysis was completed by two researchers with consensus achieved through discussion and agreement from third researcher. Themes were triangulated with quantitative data, including range of motion (ROM), scar, developmental and quality of life outcomes.ResultsChildren used the splint intensively (>12-24 h/day) for median 179 days (IQR 74) with all splinting ceased by median 275 days (IQR 105). All children had full ROM at scar maturation. Thematic analysis revealed two main themes: parents perceive the impact of splinting to be greater on them than their child and parents perceive outcomes to be more important than burden. Parents described the importance of routine and therapeutic relationships in ongoing engagement with intervention.ConclusionParents consider intensive splinting to impact them more than their child with burden of care manageable considering overall outcomes.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd and International Society of Burns Injuries. All rights reserved.

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