Interrelation of Sleep Disorders and Multimorbidity: Nursing Interventions for more Autonomy

SUMMARY

INSOMNIA I showed correlations between nursing home residents’ sleep problems and multimorbidity, between sleep quality and (lack of) activation and gaps in the staff’s awareness of sleep problems, their diagnostic skills and concepts of how to intervene. INSOMNIA II aims at improving nursing home residents’ autonomy and reducing their sleep problems through a cluster-randomized, two-arm controlled intervention study in 14 nursing homes: 1. Repeated phases of mobilization and social activation will improve residents’ sleep quality (personal resources). 2. Training will increase staff’s problem awareness and skills required to identify and manage residents’ sleep problems (staff as external resources). Outcomes of interventions will be measured at both levels: At the level of the residents by physiological, psychological, and psycho-social indicators; at the level of nurses by indicators of awareness and skills. Recommendations and materials for further education of nursing home staff (e.g. a manual) will be developed for disseminating results and promoting their sustainability.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To promote long-term care facility (LTCF) residents’autonomy by improving their social activation and physical mobilization and increasing their overall activity level, and their personal resource ‘sleep quality’.
2. To improve nursing staff’s awareness of sleep problems as well as the clinical knowledge required for daily care of residents with sleep disorders by special training. In this way external resource and prerequisites for an autonomous life of nursing home residents will improve, too.