Start | Browse by Day | Author Index | Keyword Index

Sleep Quality and Its Associated Factors in Taiwanese Pregnant Women

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Hsuan-Man Hung, MSN
Institute of Allied Health Science, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Chung-Hey Chen, PhD
Institute of Allied Health Sciences & Department of Nursing, Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the sleep quality in Taiwanese pregnant women.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify the sleep quality and its psychosocial correlates in Taiwanese pregnant women.

Aims and objectives. The purposes of the study were to examine the sleep quality and its psychosocial correlates in Taiwanese pregnant women.
Background. Women who are pregnant commonly have sleep problems during their pregnancy. Pregnancy-related hormonal fluctuations, physical discomforts and psychosocial stress may affect sleep pattern, mood, and reaction to stress. For these reasons, sleep disturbance may occur across pregnancy, which impacts the pregnant women’s quality of life.
Design. Cross-sectional design.

Methods. A convenience sample of 400 Taiwan pregnant women from obstetric clinics of two medical hospitals in urban cities were recruited to participate in this study. Data were collected from October 2006 to April 2008 using structured questionnaires including demographic characteristics, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Edinburgh Prenatal Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Attitude to Body Image Scale, and Interpersonal Support Evaluation List.Results. The results reveal that above the PSQI cutoff score of 5, indicating poor sleeper, 262 (65.5%) participants were categorized as poor sleep quality during pregnancy. The mean score of the global PSQI was 7.25 ± 3.43. The best subsets for predicting the criterion variable of sleep quality included prenatal depression, pre-pregnancy sleep quality, current body image and gestation weeks.
Conclusion. Pregnant women who had prenatal depression, poor pre-pregnancy sleep quality, negative current body image, and higher gestation weeks were more reported poor sleep quality, thereby adding to existing knowledge of the factors involved in pregnancy-related sleep quality of Taiwanese women.
Relevance to clinical practice. Sleep problems screen should be regard as a routine of obstetric clinics and give a sleep counseling, particular in pregnant women with depressive tendency.

See more of: Poster Presentations 1
See more of: Evidence-Based Practice Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters