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The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective

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Main Author: Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
Other Authors: Swartz, Sally
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
author2 Swartz, Sally
author_browse Swartz, Sally
Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
author_facet Swartz, Sally
Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
author_sort Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
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description Word processed copy.
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id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8180
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:53:28.438Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8180 The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard Swartz, Sally Clinical Psychology Word processed copy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-85) This research documents adult South African burn survivors' experiences of their lives and how their burns have affected them. The research question of the study was "How does a burn injury shape the life narratives of adult South African burn survivors?" In order to answer this, seven participants living in the Western Cape province of South Africa with a variety of demographics were interviewed utilising semi-structured interviews. A qualitative narrative analysis took place of these interviews- making use of the theoretical framework that the self, and experience, is created and understood through narrative. The results were then compared with the existing literature around trauma and narrative and similarities and differences were analysed. The predominant findings were that burn survivors had to deal with multiple traumas relating to their burn, the physical and psychological recovery from the injury, as well as their scarring and disfigurement. It was found that the experience and understanding of the trauma was created and maintained on a social level through norms and values, interpersonally through interactions with other people, as well as through the personal meaning that was made by the individual survivor. In all of the cases, the trauma represented a major disruption in the life narratives of the survivors. However with three of the participants, they said that other social issues in their lives (such as poverty) were more salient disruptions in their lives, and that their burn exacerbated their other difficulties. While all of the survivors talked about how difficult dealing with their burning and scarring has been, five of the seven participants defended against this difficulty by seeing their traumas as points in their lives where they felt like they improved as human beings. Four of the participants said that if they could have their lives over that they would choose to be burnt again, due to the sense of being improved or moulded constructively by their traumas. 2014-10-06T11:36:50Z 2014-10-06T11:36:50Z 2007 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8180 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Clinical Psychology
Tilley, Haydn Cameron Richard
The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
title_full The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
title_fullStr The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
title_full_unstemmed The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
title_short The trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors : a South African perspective
title_sort trauma and narratives of adult burn survivors a south african perspective
topic Clinical Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8180
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