The relationship between home nursing coverage, sleep, and daytime functioning in parents of ventilator-assisted

Lisa J Meltzer1, Deborah S Boroughs, John J Downes

  • 1University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. meltzerl@email.chop.edu

This descriptive study examined the relationship between home-care nursing support, sleep, and daytime functioning in familial caregivers of ventilator-assisted children. Thirty-six primary caregivers (27 mothers, 7 fathers, 1 foster mother, and 1 grandmother) of ventilator-assisted children completed measures of home nursing support, sleep, depression, fatigue, and daytime sleepiness. Daytime nursing coverage was not related to caregiver sleep or daytime functioning, but caregivers with less nighttime nursing coverage had significantly shorter sleep onset latency than caregivers with some night nursing (16-48 hours/week). Caregivers with regular night nursing (>48 hours/week) had a total sleep time of almost 1 hour more than caregivers without regular night nursing (

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