240973 Nightwatch: Sleep disruption of caregivers of children with asthma

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Rebecca R. Cheezum, MPH , School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Edith A. Parker, DrPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Natalie Sampson, MPH , Department of Heath Behavior Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Ashley O'Toole, MPH, MSW , School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Jean Patton , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Toby Lewis, MD , Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Thomas Robins , Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Carla Keirns, MD, PhD, MSc , Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care & Bioethics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Background Parents of children with chronic disease have poorer sleep than parents with healthy children. Insufficient sleep has been associated with worse physical and mental health outcomes, as well as an impact on work performance and ability to accomplish necessary tasks. Little is known about the impact of caring for a child with asthma on the caregiver's sleep.

Methods Community Action Against Asthma, a community-based participatory research partnership, conducted interviews with 40 caregivers of children with asthma who live in Detroit. Interviews were conducted in the spring and summer of 2009. The open-ended portion of each interview was recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed by researchers using a code-book that represented key concepts of interest to the study. The research team reviewed coding decisions. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS.

Results We found that caregivers regularly experience poor quality sleep due to sleeping lightly in order to listen for their child's symptoms, waking multiple times in order to check on their child, worrying that their child will die in their sleep, and providing care for their child when he or she experiences symptoms in the middle of the night. Results of the Epworth sleepiness scale indicate that 42.5% caregivers received a score of 10 or more, the score on the scale used to indicate likely presence of a sleep disorder.

Conclusion Sleep disturbance in caregivers is an under-recognized consequence of childhood asthma with implications for public health interventions.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Other professions or practice related to public health
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the impact of sleep disruption on health and wellbeing • List factors that contribute to sleep disruption of caregivers of children with asthma • Discuss recommendations to reduce the impact of sleep disruption on caregivers of children with asthma

Keywords: Asthma, Caregivers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a doctoral candidate in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan. I have been working on the research being presented over the last three years
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Children with Special Health Care Needs and Child Care Poster Session
See more of: Maternal and Child Health