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Nutrition is paramount for wound healing after burn injury. With rising food prices and time off work due to burn injuries, access to adequate nutrition may be a significant financial stressor. We asked patients at an outpatient burn clinic to complete the Household Food Security Module, which queries about food security over the preceding 12 months. Demographics and burn characteristics were abstracted from the medical record. We assessed the overall prevalence of food insecurity, risk factors for food insecurity, and potential effects of food insecurity on nutritional status and wound healing time. Wound healing time was assessed via Cox regression while adjusting for burn depth, total body surface area burned, and diabetes. Over 40% of participants reported experiencing food insecurity; it was more common in patients who preferred Spanish language (P = 0014) or were unemployed (P = .049). Just over half of participants experiencing food insecurity were using any food assistance resources. Among patients more than 30 days from burn injury, patients who were food insecure had larger burns (P = .01). Experience of food insecurity was not associated presence of malnutrition on nutrition-focused physical exam (P = .47). Wound healing time for burns managed in the outpatient setting was associated with burn depth (P < .001), but not food insecurity (P = .95), burn size (P = .17), or diabetes (P = .14). Although food insecurity did not result in malnutrition or negatively impact wound healing time, it is important for providers to routinely screen for food insecurity due to increased nutritional requirements and loss of wages after burn injury., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Unhoused patients are an overrepresented group in burn injury, and are a uniquely vulnerable population. Current research focuses on the consequences of homelessness on burn outcomes, with little known about the specific circumstances and behaviors leading to burn injury that may represent specific targets for injury prevention efforts. The burn registry at an urban regional burn center was queried for burn admissions in unhoused adults from 2019 to 2022. Registry data pulled included demographics, urine toxicology, mechanism of injury, and injury subjective history. Subjective injury history was reviewed to determine more specific injury circumstances and activities during which accidental burns occurred. Demographic and mechanistic trends in burn admissions were explored via descriptive statistics. Among 254 admissions for burns from the unhoused community, 58.1% of patients were positive for stimulants on admission. Among accidental injuries (69.7%), common circumstances included preparing food or beverages, cooking or using methamphetamine, smoking cannabis or tobacco, bonfires, and candles. A specific common circumstance was lighting a cigarette while handling accelerants (6.7%). Interventions for stimulant abuse, as well as outreach efforts to educate unhoused patients about situational awareness, safe handling of accelerants, safe smoking practices, and safe cooking practices, may be effective tools in reducing burn admissions in this vulnerable population., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

There has been conflicting data on the relationship between burn severity and psychological outcomes. The present study aims to characterize the baseline psychosocial disposition of adults attending outpatient burn clinic at a large urban safety net hospital, as well as the impact of clinical course on self-reported psychosocial well-being. Adult patients attending outpatient burn clinic completed survey questions from the National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Managing Chronic Conditions: Self-Efficacy for Managing Social Interactions (SEMSI-4) and Managing Emotions (SEME). Sociodemographic variables were collected from surveys and retrospective chart review. Clinical variables included total body surface area burned, initial hospital length of stay, surgical history, and days since injury. Poverty level was estimated by U.S. census data using patient's home ZIP code. Scores on SEME-4 and SEMSI-4 were compared to the population mean by one-sample T-test, and independent variables evaluated for associations with managing emotions and social interactions by Tobit regression while adjusting for demographic variables. The 71 burn patients surveyed had lower scores in SEMSI-4 (mean = 48.0, P = .041) but not SEME-4 (mean = 50.9, P = .394) versus the general population. Marital status and neighborhood poverty level were associated with SEMSI-4, while length of stay and % total body surface area burned were associated with SEME-4. Patients who are single or from poorer neighborhoods may have difficulty interacting with their environment after burn injury and need extra social support. Prolonged hospitalization and increased severity of burn injury may have more impact on emotional regulation; these patients may benefit from psychotherapy during recovery., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Disparities in psychosocial outcomes after burn injury exist in patients from racial or ethnic minority groups in the United States. Peer support groups can help patients with many psychosocial aspects of recovery from burns; however, access to such support among patients of racial and ethnic minority or low socioeconomic groups are unknown. The present study examined participation rates in outpatient peer support within this patient population. Patients attending outpatient clinic at an urban safety-net hospital and regional burn center with a majority minority patient population were asked about participation in burn survivor group, interest in joining a group, and given validated survey questions about managing emotions and social interactions since injury. Current or past participation in peer support was low (4.2%), and 30.3% of patients not already in support group were interested in joining. Interest in future participation in peer support was highest among Hispanic patients (37.0%) and lowest among Black patients (0%). Logistic regression models demonstrated that increased total body surface area burned, hospital length of stay, and need for surgical intervention were associated with interest in joining or having joined a peer support group. Effectiveness of management of emotions and social interactions were not associated with interest in joining peer support in the future. These findings demonstrate a considerable difference between levels of interest and participation in peer support within this population. Improving access to and education about benefits of peer support in underresourced communities may help to address the variation in psychosocial outcomes of patients across racial or ethnic minority groups recovering from burns., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)