ADJUSTMENT TO SEVERE, TRAUMATIC ACCIDENTS
Accidents are one of the major causes of death in the United States (Lancaster, 1994). The most frequent causes of accidental injury and death are carelessness and ignorance; and the most common accidents are motor vehicle accidents, falls, drownings, and fires (Lancaster, 1994). However, in this modern day and age, severe injury has become the dire consequence of an ever-increasing number of industrial and mining accidents as well as sport-, military- and, on a global scope, even terror-related incidents (Badenhorst, 1990).
The review of research presented here examines the literature on severe, traumatic accidents---commonly defined as an accident that involves long-term or permanent physical debilitation (see: Di Gallo, Barton & Parry-Jones, 1997)---and the psychosocial and psychoemotional adjustment of victims. This literature is investigated in order to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the typical (normative) psychosocial and psychoemotional consequences associated with severe, traumatic accidents?
2. What factors are associated with successful and unsuccessful adjustment to severe, traumatic accidents?
3. What treatment strategies are used to increase adjustment levels of victims of severe, traumatic accidents?
The paper first reviews and summarizes the literature pertinent to each of the foregoing questions. Following this review, the paper presents a restatement of the questions and provides answers based on the reviewed literature. The final section of the study discusses implications regarding the psychological adjustment of severe and traumatic accident victims based on both the reviewed literature and the developed answers to the research questions.
Psychosocial and Psychoemotional Consequences
What are the typical psychoemotional and psychosocial outcomes for children and/or adolescents who are involved in severe and traumatic...