Burns have been reported as a major injury category internationally, ranking fourth for injuries requiring medical attention, outnumbered only by road traffic accidents, falls and interpersonal violence[1]. The impacts of burn injuries on the survivors and families in terms of functional, mental health and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcomes are substantial and warrant particular attention. It is widely agreed in the burn literature that post-injury outcome is multidimensional given the spectrum of impacts this type of injury has on people physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially[2,3]. HRQoL has become the putative concept to encompass these various dimensions of injury adjustment. It is defined as “a holistic emphasis on the social, emotional, and physical well-being of patients after treatment” or “the impact of a person's health on his or her ability to lead a fulfilling life”[4]. The main focus is on measuring functioning, disability, and health, related to particular diseases or health events.[5]. A range of international bodies recommend post-injury HRQoL outcome measurement, as adopted by the Trauma Registry of the American College of Surgeons, the American Burn Association[6] as well as enshrined in the European Consumer Safety Association guidelines[7] and Cologne Group Consensus Statements[8].

The epidemiological and predisposing risk factors for adult burn have been reported, often highlighting the significant role of social factors such as education, income, occupation, housing, ethnicity (including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status), material resources and community integration for increased risk[1,9]. However, there has been a paucity of research investigating the association between these social factors and long-term outcomes for adult burn survivors. Apart from socio-demographic[10], injury-related[11,12] and psychological factors[11,13], all established to partially predict outcome post-burn, survivors’ social factors could be important in predicting outcomes[14]. The World Health Organization posits that health is a social phenomenon and consequently recognises the influential role of social (personal and environmental) factors on health and well-being[15]. Any empirical link between these factors and burn injury outcomes is yet to be investigated in published research.

There are few burn outcomes studies that focus on personal and environmental factors as potential predictors. This is in spite of the convincing role these factors have in predisposing people to the risk of burn injury[1,9,16]. The ‘AfterBurn’ Longitudinal Exploratory (ABLE) study, therefore, is the first of its kind in an Australian population to evaluate early predictors, particularly personal and environmental factors, of long-term generic and burn-specific HRQoL outcomes for adult survivors of hospitalised burn injuries at 12-month post-burn.