Objectives: Epidemiological studies indicate that more than half of the elderly population suffers from chronic sleep disturbances. Therefore, this descriptive study was conducted to examine sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, daytime napping, and depression among a population of nursing home residents.
Methods: The study's sample included 73 elderly people living in a nursing home in Turkey. Geriatric Depression Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and a sleep diary were used.
Results: The participants' mean age was 74.0 years (standard deviation (SD) = 6.7). Forty-four of the individuals had a poor sleep quality prevalence of 60.3%; and the mean global PSQI score was 6.6 (SD = 3.6). Their mean ESS score was 5.9 (SD = 4.6) and 14 participants (19.2%) had daytime sleepiness. The mean daytime napping duration was 1.0 h (SD = 1.3) according to the participants' sleep diaries. The study found that 60.3% of the participants were depressed, furthermore the mean depression score was 15.9 (SD = 7.0). There was a significant correlation between the PSQI subscores; subjective sleep quality, the sleep latency, and sleep disturbances scores and depression scores. Also, daytime napping frequency and daytime napping duration, according to the sleep diary, were correlated positively with depression scores.
Conclusions: The current study's results confirm the previously reported high prevalence of poor sleep quality and depression in this nursing home population. Clinicians need to assess patients appropriately to identify high prevalence of sleep problems and depression in nursing home patients and initiate appropriate referrals and interventions.