2021 Annual Conference

CNS as Researcher

Sleep is essential for maintenance of good health and well-being; however, for nurses who work the night shift, getting the recommended eight hours of sleep can be difficult. As there are many deleterious effects of sleep fatigue, it is crucial for nurses entering the profession to establish positive sleep hygiene habits. A prospective, experimental, pre-survey and post-survey design was used to examine the effect of an educational sleep program on sleep quality, quality of life, and fatigue severity for new graduate night nurses. In the pre-program survey, 184 nurses participated (experimental [n=84], control [n=102]). There were significant differences between the control and experimental groups for the aggregate totals of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Quality of Life Index (QOLI) as well as some of the subscales but not the General Sleep Disturbances Scale (GSDS) or the Visual Analogue Scale to Evaluate Fatigue Severity (VAS-F). After the program 41 nurses completed the survey (experimental group [n=20], control group [n=21]). For the PSQI sleep duration and disturbances subscales, although there was not a significant main effect for within-group or for between-group, there was a marginally significant interaction of within- and between-group. For the PSQI sleep dysfunction subscale, the within-group main effect was significant, the between-group main effect was marginally significant, and the interaction was significant. For the VAS-F fatigue subscale, the within-group main effect was significant, the between-group main effect was not significant, and the interaction was significant. Other main effects were found. This shows initial evidence that the sleep educational program may have some effect on quality of sleep and fatigue but not quality of life.