Insomnia Symptoms Among Hospice Family Caregivers: Prevalence and Association with Caregiver Mental and Physical Health, Quality of Life, and Caregiver Burden.
Lauren T Starr, Karla Washington, Miranda V McPhillips and 3 others
PMID 35620797WHAT IT FOUND
About half (49.1%) of hospice family caregivers reported insomnia symptoms.
Those caregivers reported worse anxiety, depression, burden, quality of life, and health. Ask caregivers about sleep and mood.
Key findings
01About half of hospice family caregivers (49.1%) had insomnia symptoms, using a score of 8 or higher on the Insomnia Severity Index.
02Caregivers with insomnia symptoms reported higher anxiety scores (4.7 without insomnia vs 11.4 with insomnia), higher depression scores (3.1 without insomnia vs 10.7 with insomnia), higher caregiver burden scores (5.6 without insomnia vs 11.8 with insomnia), and worse self-rated health (3.5 without insomnia vs 2.8 with insomnia) than caregivers without insomnia symptoms.
03Total quality of life was lower among caregivers with insomnia symptoms (29.3 without insomnia vs 22.6 with insomnia), with differences in emotional, social, and physical quality of life, but not financial quality of life.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study looked at one time point, so it cannot show whether insomnia symptoms caused worse anxiety, depression, burden, quality of life, or health, or whether poor health caused sleep problems. Only 57 caregivers had valid insomnia questionnaire data, so some comparisons may have missed real differences. The sample was mostly White and non-Hispanic, so results may not apply to other groups. The study did not know caregivers' health before they began caregiving. Sleep was measured by questionnaire.
Declared interests
The parent trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (R01CA203999). The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating caregiver insomnia will improve anxiety, depression, burden, or quality of life. This study measured associations at one time point and did not test a treatment.