Sleep health practices and sleep knowledge among healthcare professionals in Dutch paediatric rehabilitation.
Raquel Y Hulst, Sigrid Pillen, Jeanine M Voorman and 3 others
PMID 32706911WHAT IT FOUND
Allied health professionals in Dutch paediatric rehabilitation addressed sleep less often than physicians, had low sleep knowledge, and many did not feel they knew enough.
If you work with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, ask about sleep and refer when needed.
Key findings
01Rehabilitation physicians reported addressing sleep often (56.7%) more frequently than allied health professionals (11.8%).
02Mean total sleep knowledge scores were 48.9% for rehabilitation physicians, 35.4% for allied health professionals and 34.5% for controls; physicians scored higher than both groups, while allied health professionals did not differ from controls.
03Only 14.8% of allied health professionals believed they had sufficient sleep knowledge to address sleep issues in clinical practice.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The questionnaire was not validated. The sample was small, with 84 healthcare professionals and 63 controls, so generalisability may be limited. Sleep practices and knowledge were self-reported, and clinicians may have answered favourably. Allied health professionals were analysed as one group, so results were not separated for physical therapists, occupational therapists or speech and language therapists. The study measured what clinicians reported and knew. It did not measure children's sleep or whether advice improved sleep.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that asking about sleep improves children's sleep. The study measured clinicians' reported practices and knowledge only. It did not test an intervention or child outcome.