1.Prevalence of sleep disturbance among nurses in a Malaysian government hospital and its association with work characteristics
Nazatul SM ; Saimy I ; Moy FM ; Nabila AS
Journal of University of Malaya Medical Centre 2008;11(2):66-71
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleep disturbance with work
characteristics among nurses in the Melaka Hospital, Malacca, Malaysia. This was a cross sectional
study conducted in Melaka Hospital. Universal sampling was conducted and a Malay version
of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire was used in data collection. Sociodemographic
characteristics such as age, marital status, number of children and work characteristics
such as type of work schedule and duration were also enquired. Factors associated with poor sleep
quality were compared between those nurses with good sleep quality by using logistic regression.
There were 607 nurses who completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 73.1%. There
was a moderate prevalence (57.8%) of poor sleep quality (PSQI > 5) in all study subjects. The
prevalence of sleep disturbance was more widespread among nurses who worked shifts (62.0%)
compared to non-shift working nurses (41.5%) p<0.001. A logistic regression analysis showed that
age, marital status and unit group were the major associating factors of poor sleep quality. Sleep
disturbance decreased with increasing age (OR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.25, 0.73) while married nurses
(OR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.42, 3.82) and those in the category of intensive group (OR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.1, 4.1)
were more prone to have sleep disturbances. In conclusion, this study revealed moderate
prevalence of sleep disturbance among nurses working in Melaka Hospital but it was not associated
with the work shifts. Age, marital status and work environment especially in the intensive
group unit seemed to be factors associated with reduced global sleep quality among nurses in
this study.