Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Multi-Modal Home Sleep Monitoring in Older Adults
Published on: January 26, 2019
Effect of individualized social activity on sleep in nursing home residents with dementia
Kathy Culpepper Richards1, Cornelia Beck, Patricia S O'Sullivan
1Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114, USA. richardskathyc@uams.edu
Objectives:
To test the efficacy of an individualized social activity intervention (ISAI) on decreasing daytime sleep, improving nighttime sleep, and lowering the day/night sleep ratio and to determine its cost.
Design:
Pretest/posttest randomized with an experimental and control group.
Setting:
Seven nursing homes.
Participants:
One hundred forty-seven residents with dementia.
Intervention:
One to 2 hours of individualized social activities for 21 consecutive days.
Measurements:
Twenty-four-hour sleep/wake patterns using an Actigraph.
Results:
The ISAI group had significantly less daytime sleep (P=.001) and a lower day/night sleep ratio (P=.03) than the control group, after adjusting for baseline values. Because 40% of the sample slept 7 or more hours at night, a secondary analysis was conducted. When only those residents with a sleep efficiency of less than 50% (n=50) were included, the ISAI group (n=20) had less daytime sleep (P=.005), a lower day/night sleep ratio (P=.02), fell asleep faster (P=.03), and were awake less at night (P=.04) than the control group (n=30), after adjusting for baseline values. The weekly cost of the ISAI was roughly $70 per participant. Initial training and supply costs were $1,944.
Conclusion:
The ISAI provides an alternative to medications, without side effects.
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