Quality Of Sleep Research

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of a hospital environment on the quality of sleep among older adults in acute medical/hospital wards.

5.2 Objectives:

1. To describe the sample of older adults admitted to the acute medical wards.

2. To describe the quality of sleep among older adults in hospital.

3. To identify the factors that influences sleep in the acute medical wards of a large teaching hospital.

5.3 Hypothesis:

1. Older adults in hospital have reduced quality of sleep.

2. There is a relationship between the quality of sleep of older adults and factors that influence sleep in acute medical wards.

6. Research Design:

A quantitative descriptive design will be implemented to achieve the aims and objectives of the proposed

1999) as described in the literature review. Questionnaires are useful because the facilitator can gather large amounts of information from a large group in a relatively cost-effective and non-invasive way (Jones & Rattary 2010). The researcher proposes to use two sections of questionnaire for data collection. Section 1 of the questionnaire will be designed to collect the demographic, as well as clinical data of the sample (Appendix 1). Questions in this section includes age, gender, diagnosis, number of nights slept in hospital and sleep arrangements at home. Section 2 consists of the modified Freedman questionnaire (Bihari et al. 2012 Appendix 2) to obtain the current experiences of sleep quality among hospitalised older adults and factors that influencing sleep. This questionnaire was developed by Freedman et al. (1999) to determine the perceived effect of the intensive care unit (ICU) environment on sleep. Initial studies examined the influence of environmental factors on sleep quality (Freedman et al 1999). Further development of the questionnaire allowed for the introduction of

Hence, the researcher will seek for ethical approval from the research ethic committee ahead of this proposed study. The director of nursing, service manager and clinical nurse managers of the acute medical wards will be contacted for the formal permission and access to the research site (Maltby et al. 2010). The main ethical principles include respect for individual freedom, confidentiality, and beneficence/non-maleficence will be maintained throughout the study (Grove et al. 2013). As individuals are autonomous beings, the participants are free to involve or refuse without repercussions. Consent will be implied by the completion of the study questionnaire and the participation in the study will be voluntary. The participants will remain anonymous, and there will be no identifying information about the participant in the questionnaire (Grove et al. 2013). Self-administered questionnaire can protect the anonymity and privacy of the respondents (Grove et al. 2013). The questionnaires will be checked for any potentially damaging questions at the pilot study stage. Each questionnaire will be numbered and the completed questionnaire will be stored