Factors Affecting Sleeping Patterns among Hospitalized Elderly

Shim, Hye Jung; Kim, Jin Sun; Kim, Kye Ha

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting sleeping patterns among hospitalized elderly. METHODS: A descriptive correlational study was conducted. Participants were 121 hospitalized elderly in a hospital located in a county. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Almost a half of hospitalized elderly in this study suffer from sleep disturbances. As results of univariate analyses, physical symptoms, anxiety, depression, and environmental factors disturbed sleep among hospitalized elderly. However, the result of stepwise multiple regression analysis identified that anxiety and environmental factors were significant predictors of sleeping patterns for hospitalized elderly and these two factors accounted 32.5% of variance of sleeping patterns among hospitalized elderly. CONCLUSION: Sleep assessment should be conducted on admission to identify sleep difficulties and thereby to improve quality of nursing care. Nurses and other health care personnels should make efforts to decrease anxiety and to eliminate environmental barriers of sleep among hospitalized elderly. Educational programs for nursing staff that offer information about sleep and sleep promoting interventions for the elderly patients are critical. Moreover, sleep promotion intervention program should be developed, applied and evaluated.