Caregiver Perspectives on Physiotherapy Treatment for Paediatric Burns in the United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND: Physiotherapy is an essential component of paediatric burn treatment. Children are admitted to the paediatric burn unit with their caregivers who play a vital role in supporting the child’s post-burn physiotherapy management. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to determine caregivers’ attitudes on physiotherapy treatment for children with burns in the UAE. This study focused on the caregiver’s perspective on five important domains: caregiver’s knowledge, burden, attitude, adherence to physiotherapy exercise program, and caregiver’s satisfaction. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaire. Fifty caregivers were eligible to participate in the study. The analyses of the survey responses were done using SPSS software. Descriptive analysis and correlation statistics were used to present the data. RESULTS: The caregiver participants in the study reported to have reasonably good knowledge about the paediatric burns care (13.62 ± 3.49) and had a positive attitude towards the physiotherapy treatment provided to the children with the burn injuries (9.41 ± 1.56). The adherence to the prescribed exercise regimen of physiotherapy sessions was found to be good (11.88 ± 1.50) but were overburdened with the caregiving tasks (21.42 ± 11.62). The study demonstrated very high levels of satisfaction among the caregivers with the physiotherapy treatment sessions provided to the children (13.4 ± 1.83). CONCLUSION: Caregiver attitude regarding physiotherapy management was overall positive; caregivers were well aware of the importance of physiotherapy and have reported high levels of satisfaction with the paediatric burn physiotherapy management.