Despite mounting evidence that non-injury-related factors have an important role in recovery from injury; specific variables associated with surgery outcomes are poorly understood. This lack of knowledge complicates efforts to improve the care of work-related hand injury (WRHI) patients. However, substantial research and investigation have still not clarified these underlying relationships, which merit further attention.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) outcome for WRHI patients after the impact of event and to investigate the moderated mediation analysis associated with their decision trust and regret.

A cross sectional study design was used to investigate the impact of event and the associated HRQL in 53 WRHI patients following severe and major hand injury. All consenting patients completed the Impact of Event Scale Revised, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Decisional Trust scale, Decisional Regret scale and Short Form-36.

In the result of mediation analysis, patients affected HRQL via decisional trust and decisional regret, respectively. In addition, our data suggest that certain decisional trust and decisional regret (partial) characteristics significantly moderate this association. These findings may aid in the development of clinical interventions to enhance HRQL for WRHI patients. Overall, it is important for clinicians to consider the notion that more decisional trust or less decisional regret may sometimes, but not always, be better.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.