Sleep quality and psychological morbidity among physicians in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Objectives: The role of the physician has increasingly become more expansive, and demanding. These demanding schedules have played a heavy toll on sleep patterns and increased psychological stress. The objective of the study was to assess sleep quality and psychological morbidity among Physicians.Method: A cross-sectional survey of 95 voluntary consenting physicians from different specialties during a 2-day conference. We administered Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and General Health Questionnaire-12.Results: About 13.6% (n=13 out of 95) had a score above 2 on General Health Questionnaire-12, indicating psychological morbidity. Those who reported poor sleep quality (>5) made up 36.8% (n=35) of the respondents, There were positive significant correlation between hours spent on call and total scores on GHQ at r=0.230, p=0.03. Only subjective sleep quality (component 1) was significantly correlated with total GHQ scores at p=0.001Conclusion: The findings in our study showed a relationship between sleep quality (component 1) psychological morbidity. We observed that long work schedules was the only factor associated with psychological morbidity and sleep quality. It is imperative for work-time stress management to be instituted among physicians.Keywords: Sleep quality, psychological morbidity, physicians, work schedules, Nigeria