SLEEP OF ONE- AND TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN INTENSIVE CARE (ONE-YEAR-OLD).
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 127
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Physiological.
Description: Physiologic and psychologic changes associated with sleep disturbance can decrease the ability of a critically ill child to adapt effectively to hospitalization and thus hamper recovery. Intensive care settings, while fulfilling the need for therapeutic intervention, can interfere with sleep. Research has demonstrated that intensive care settings interfere with the sleep of adults, but little is known about the impact of these settings on children' s sleep.

The purpose of this study was to establish normative data on the sleep-wake patterns of 1- and 2-year-old children in intensive care settings. The specific aims were to: (a) describe the sleep-wake patterns of 1- and 2-year-old children in intensive care, (b) identify intensive care environment stimuli which are associated with sleep-wake state, (c) compare the intensive care sleep-wake pattern to the prior-to-illness sleep-wake pattern, and (d) determine the time required for these children to return to their prior-to-illness sleep-wake pattern after discharge from the hospital.

An exploratory field study was designed to answer the research questions. Twelve children, 13 to 35 months of age, admitted to the PICU of a large children's hospital comprised the convenience sample. Parental interviews measured preillness and postdischarge sleep patterns. Sleep patterns during a 12-hour night in the PICU were assessed using 5-minute observations and classification of sleep state, according to Echols' Patient Sleep Behavior Observation Tool. External environmental stimuli of light, noise, and caregiver activity, and internal stimuli of pain, disease severity, and medication effect were measured. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent and paired sample t tests, Fisher's Exact test, and correlation coefficients.

Subjects demonstrated sleep similar to that documented in healthy children of similar ages prior to hospitalization. Children in the intensive care unit experience a significant loss of sleep, frequent awakenings, and a virtual REM sleep deprivation. External environmental stimuli were significantly correlated with sleep state and internal environmental stimuli were associated with sleep acquisition. Changes in sleep pattern persisted after discharge from the PICU and the hospital.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: B, page: 5283.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1994.

School code: 0005.