Promoting Psychosocial Adjustment in Pediatric Burn Patients Through Music Therapy and Child Life Therapy

Abstract

This article will describe the basic medical characteristics of pediatric burn care (types, causes, and treatment) in an acute burn center such as the Shriners Burns Institute, Galveston Unit. It explains how music therapy has been incorporated into child life therapy to attain mutual therapeutic goals for burn patients' optimal psychological and rehabilitative recovery. Several common issues are discussed which the child life specialist and music therapist address during a child's hospitalization. These include helping the child and family to cope with multiple losses, to work through painful/invasive procedures, to reinforce occupational/physical therapy goals, to increase lung capacity, and to adapt through the stager of recovery. The emotional states experienced by pediatric burn patients are also discussed developmentally. The interventions used by child life therapy and music therapy for these common issues and emotional states are described.