Sleep disturbances and interrelationship between persons with dementia and family caregivers: The lived experiences of Korean American Dyads.
Eunae Ju, Candace Burton, Julie Kim and 5 others
PMID 37995606WHAT IT FOUND
Korean American people with dementia and caregivers described sleep problems as linked: when one slept poorly, the other did too.
Caregivers often did not notice their own poor sleep until logging it.
Key findings
01Caregivers said their sleep was better when the person with dementia slept well and worse when the person with dementia had nighttime problems.
02People with dementia often said their sleep was good despite diary records of interruptions, and some caregivers did not recognise their own poor sleep until they logged it.
03Language barriers reduced communication within some dyads and limited access to Korean-language sleep education.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used a small convenience sample, so the themes may not represent other Korean American dyads, other ethnic minorities, or people with dementia more broadly. It describes experiences and perceptions, not tested interventions, so it cannot show that sleep diaries, dyadic education, or the reported strategies improve sleep. Sleep diary information for people with dementia was logged by caregivers, so the person with dementia's own sleep experience may be filtered through caregiver observation. Some people with dementia had limited decision-making capacity and caregivers acted as surrogates, which may affect how their experiences were represented.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article lists non-U.S. government and N.I.H. extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the reported sleep strategies, sleep diaries, or dyadic education as proven to improve sleep. The study describes experiences and perceptions, not tested interventions.