Social support and posttraumatic growth in Iranian burn survivors: The mediating role of spirituality.

BACKGROUND: Social support and spirituality are important issues among burn survivors that appear to affect their posttraumatic growth (PTG).

AIM: To investigate the relationship between social support and PTG in Iranian burn survivors, as mediated by their perceptions of spiritual well-being.

METHOD: This is a correlation study with a cross-sectional design, and it uses anonymous questionnaires as study instruments (i.e. Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). A total of 118 questionnaires were sent to participants by post. Nine envelopes were not returned, and seven questionnaires were incompletely filled. Data were collected from 102 burn survivors who had a history of hospitalisation at Imam Khomeini Teaching Hospitals of Urmia, the capital of Western Azerbaijan Province, northwest of Iran. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping procedures were employed to identify the mediating role of their perceptions of spiritual well-being.

RESULTS: The mean scores of social support (ranging from 12 to 84), PTG (ranging from 0 to 105) and the spirituality (ranging from 20 to120) among the participants were 56.96, 78.13 and 92.15, respectively. The results confirmed our hypothesised model. All the latent variables (variables that are not directly observed but are rather inferred from other variables that are observed (directly measured by items of an instrument)) of study were significantly correlated in the predicted directions. Social support and spirituality were significant predictors of PTG. Spirituality partially mediated the relationship between social support and PTG. The mediating role of the spirituality suggests that social support increases PTG, both directly and indirectly.

CONCLUSION: The mediating role of spirituality should provide new visions for the augmentation of PTG in burn survivors.