Exploring Sleep Health in Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe the sleep health goals in 35 young adults age 18-30 years with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We reviewed clinician sleep reports generated from wrist-worn actigraphs with participants during an in-depth semistructured telephone interview. Interviews were audio-recorded then transcribed verbatim. We performed a constant comparison method for content analysis using NVivoTM. The following two overarching health goals are identified: (a) promoting sleep (quantity, quality, hygiene, bedtime/waketime) and (b) improving diabetes self-management (time in range, sleep and glucose monitoring, and diet). Young adults in the study readily generated goals after visualizing their sleep reports. Sleep data visualization and debriefing is an effective strategy to elicit health goals for young adults with T1D. Supporting young adults with T1D to achieve their health goals for sleep promotion and diabetes self-management is a promising direction for improved sleep and consequently the attainment of glycemic targets.