Paper
Friday, July 15, 2005
This presentation is part of : Women's Health Issues
The Relationship Between Sleep Characteristics and Fatigue in Postpartum Women
Jacqueline D. Rychnovsky, PhD, RN, CPNP, Department of Nursing Research and Analysis, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
Learning Objective #1: Describe different characteristics of sleep experienced by healthy patients, as measured by the VSH Sleep Scale
Learning Objective #2: Discuss how sleep characteristics relate to fatigue patterns in women across the first 8 weeks postpartum

Background and Purpose: Approximately 4 million women annually experience the birth of a child, and over 1 million women with a child under the age of one year return to the work force. In the postpartum period, mothers report feeling more fatigued than during pregnancy. Postpartum mothers report more sleep disturbance than fathers, and working women experience less sleep than required. The purpose of this descriptive, longitudinal study of 109 working women was to describe fatigue levels across the first 6-8 weeks postpartum, and to describe the relationship among sleep characteristics as they relate to fatigue levels.

Sample and Methodology: The majority of the sample were married or partnered enlisted women in the U.S. Navy with a mean age of 25 years (±5). Fatigue was measured using the Fatigue Continuum Form, an ordinal, 30-statement instrument. Maternal sleep was measured using the VSH Sleep Scale, a visual-analogue scale designed to subjectively measure 16 sleep characteristics that evaluate the concepts of sleep disturbance, sleep effectiveness, and sleep supplementation. Descriptive statistics and Pearsons r correlations were used to analyze the data. Institutional Review Board approval was received prior to study commencement.

Findings: Women were found to be moderately fatigued across time, with no change in fatigue levels from 2 to 6-8 weeks postpartum. At the time delivery, and at 2-weeks and 6-weeks postpartum, fatigue correlated with fragmented sleep, sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and sleep effectiveness. Fatigue did not correlate at any point with length of sleep, sleep latency, or sleep supplementation. Future research and nursing interventions should focus on helping the postpartum mother improve sleep quality and effectiveness, and strive toward reducing disturbed sleep. Napping and sleeping longer hours do not appear to reduce postpartum fatigue.