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The Effect of Cycled Lighting on Sleep-Awake Rhythms of Premature Infant

Monday, 7 July 2008
Shu-Chen Yang, MSN, RN , Institute of Allied Health Sciences College of Medicine; Department of Nursing, National Cheng Kung University; Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
Ying Ju Chang, PhD, RN , Department of Nursing, Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, Tainan, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: understand the effects of lighting on sleep-awake rhythms in premature infant

Learning Objective 2: promot the development of circadian rhythms for premature infants

Premature infants are usually exposure to continuous dim lighting or without day-night rhythms during hospitalization. This phenomenon may cause difficulty in developing circadian rhythms and hinder physiological stability and growth of premature infants. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of cycled lighting on sleep-awake rhythms of premature infants.

This study uses an experimental design and will be conducted in a level 2 nursery of a medical center of southern Taiwan. Fifty premature infants > 32 weeks' of postmentstrual age will be randomly assigned to continuous dim light group (control group) or cycled light group. Infants of the control group will be covered by a cloth on the incubator continuously to maintain dim light. Whereas, infants of cycled lighting group will be covered a cloth on the incubator from 8PM to 8AM but receive the nature light of indoor during the day time. Infants' sleep-awake rhythms will be measured continuously by using Atiwatch-L for 72 hrs at the day 1 to 3 before intervention, day 5 to 7 and day 12-14 of the study period.

Statistics t- tests and repeated measured analysis of variance will be used to compare the difference of sleep-awake between and within two groups. Results of this study might determine the effect of cycled lighting on sleep- awake rhythms, providing an evidence for promoting the development of circadian rhythms for premature infants.

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