Color pressure garments versus traditional beige pressure garments: perceptions from the public.

Social acceptance of patients with burns may be affected by the color of the pressure garment they wear. The purpose of this study was to ask students (n = 712), health care providers (n = 354), and the public (n = 250) their perceptions of beige versus color pressure garments. It was assumed that beige pressure garments have negative connotations and that colored pressure garments have positive connotations. Data were collected from subjects after they viewed beige, pink, and blue pressure garments. Items on the instrument contained bipolar word pairs rated on a 5-point scale; a rating of 1 indicated positive feelings, and a rating of 5 indicated negative feelings. Cronbach's alpha reliability for the instrument was 0.85, indicating a high internal consistency among items. Paired t test indicated a significant difference between the subjects' perceptions of the beige garments versus their perceptions of the color garments (t = -44.82, p = 0.000) among all subjects (n = 1259). Results indicate that positive feelings toward color garments may lead to social acceptance of the patient with burns, which in turn could increase the patient's self-esteem.

The effect of instruction on burn prevention in eighth-grade students in preparation for babysitting.

New parents quickly discover that the greatest resource for child care at the least cost are teenage babysitters. These sitters assume the responsibility for burn prevention of young children. This study tested the effect of a burn prevention presentation on pre- and posttest scores of eighth-grade students (N = 119) from five sections of a science class. Students were between the ages of 12 and 14 years and 99 of them (83.2%) were babysitters. Multiple analysis of variance was calculated, and differences were seen between information regarding burns from hot bath water, cigarette lighters, and baby bottles that were heated in microwave ovens; however, the differences were not significant. This study concluded that eighth-grade students learned burn prevention before they entered the eighth grade but that there is a need to update these babysitters on burn prevention and new hazards such as cigarette lighters and microwave ovens.