Healthcare providers' knowledge of disordered sleep, sleep assessment tools, and nonpharmacological sleep interventions for persons living with dementia: a national survey.

Cary A Brown,Patricia Wielandt,Allyson Jones,Donna Wilson,Katelyn Crick

doi:10.1155/2014/286274

Cary A Brown, Patricia Wielandt + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/286274

Copy DOI

Abstract

A large proportion of persons with dementia will also experience disordered sleep. Disordered sleep in dementia is a common reason for institutionalization and affects cognition, fall risk, agitation, self-care ability, and overall health and quality of life. This report presents findings of a survey of healthcare providers' awareness of sleep issues, assessment practices, and nonpharmacological sleep interventions for persons with dementia. There were 1846 participants, with the majority being from nursing and rehabilitation. One-third worked in long-term care settings and one-third in acute care. Few reported working in the community. Findings revealed that participants understated the incidence of sleep deficiencies in persons with dementia and generally lacked awareness of the relationship between disordered sleep and dementia. Their knowledge of sleep assessment tools was limited to caregiver reports, self-reports, and sleep diaries, with few using standardized tools or other assessment methods. The relationship between disordered sleep and comorbid conditions was not well understood. The three most common nonpharmacological sleep interventions participants identified using were a regular bedtime routine, increased daytime activity, and restricted caffeine. Awareness of other evidence-based interventions was low. These findings will guide evidence-informed research to develop and test more targeted and contextualized sleep and dementia knowledge translation strategies.

Highlights

Disordered sleep (DS) is defined as a range of sleep problems including hypersomnia conditions, parasomnia conditions, insomnia, and sleep-wake cycle disturbances [1]
These findings indicate that awareness is generally low and knowledge varies between professional groups
This again highlights that, consistent with examples of KT in other areas with evidence-to-practice [23], sleep and dementia awareness and intervention strategies may benefit from targeting specific professions and their identified knowledge gaps instead of focusing efforts into more generic sleep educational approaches intended for all service providers

Summary

Introduction

Disordered sleep (DS) is defined as a range of sleep problems including hypersomnia conditions (such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy), parasomnia conditions (such as confusional arousal, restless leg syndrome, and sleep walking), insomnia, and sleep-wake cycle disturbances [1]. All of these DS conditions share the outcome of nonrestorative sleep. The relationships between DS and decreased cognitive, emotional, and physical functioning, substance misuse, and various mental health problems are well documented [3] Research suggests that this is a bidirectional relationship such that poor sleep influences health and dementia, and vice versa. Promoting better sleep can contribute to health, wellbeing, and continued independent community living for persons with dementia (PWD)

Methods

Results

Conclusion