The Effect of Sleep Hygiene Education on the Quality of Sleep of Elderly Women

Background/Purpose: Many elderly women experience poor sleep quality. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of sleep hygiene education on the sleep quality of old women. Methods: The present clinical trial study was conducted using eligible women randomly assigned to either an intervention (n=30) or control (n=31) group. Five 40-minute sleep hygiene education sessions were held over one week for the intervention group. The study inclusion criteria were: self-care ability based on the Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL), no cognitive disorders according to the Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT; score >7), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS; score >7), and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; score >5). The PSQI was also completed after the intervention to determine the effect of sleep hygiene education on the quality of sleep of elderly women. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 16 using a significance level of P <0.05. Results: Sleep hygiene education improved the subjective quality of sleep (P=0.0001), duration of sleep (P=0.028), and daily functional disorders (P=0.002), but had no significant effect on sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep disorders, or the use of hypnotics before and after education Conclusion: Through simple and low-cost education, improvements can be achieved in the subjective quality of sleep, duration of sleep, and daily functional disorders in a short period of time, and this intervention should be used to improve the quality of life of the elderly. Copyright © 2019, Asian Association for Frailty and Sarcopenia and Taiwan Association for Integrated Care. Published by Full Universe Integrated Marketing Limited.