Parental Perceptions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Sleep of Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Alex Pizzo, Elizabeth Keys, Penny Corkum
PMID 36283892WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of 100 children with neurodevelopmental disorders and insomnia said most children's sleep did not change during COVID-19.
Thirty said sleep worsened, often from anxiety and lost routines; four said sleep improved.
Key findings
01Of 100 parents, 66 reported no change in their child's sleep, 30 reported worse sleep, and 4 reported better sleep.
02Parents who said sleep worsened linked it to increased anxiety, stress and worry, and to changes in daily routines.
03Parents who said sleep improved linked it to fewer extracurricular and school commitments, which made bedtime routines easier and reduced stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
All information came from parent report, and parental stress may have shaped the responses. The sample was mainly ADHD and ASD, so it says little about children with other neurodevelopmental disorders. Children already had insomnia symptoms, so a pandemic-related change may have been harder to detect. The open-ended text box was efficient but reduced the richness of the qualitative data. The study measured perceptions at one baseline point, so it cannot show that the pandemic caused sleep changes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 30% worsening as proof that the pandemic caused sleep problems in children with NDDs. These were parent-reported changes at one baseline point, most parents reported no change, and the study did not measure sleep objectively.