Sleep Quality, Pain and Self-Efficacy among Community-Dwelling Adults with Sickle Cell Disease

The aim of this paper was to report the findings of a study examining relationships among sleep, pain, self-efficacy, and demographic attributes of community-dwelling adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Sleep difficulty has been self-reported among adults with chronic pain. Past studies have demonstrated that chronic pain results in sleep difficulties and other complications that threaten effective functioning. Community-dwelling adults with SCD are living longer and need to be evaluated for sleep quality, pain, and self-efficacy. Little is known about whether adults with SCD-related pain have disturbances in sleep and self-efficacy, and if these disturbances are affected by age and/or gender. The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to examine the relationships among sleep, pain, self-efficacy, and demographic attributes among community-dwelling adults with SCD, and who use support services of state SCD Associations in the United States. For this secondary data analysis, the study was conducted from June, 2014 to December, 2014 and used a descriptive correlational design to analyze data from a primary study of a convenience sample of 90 subjects with SCD, who were 18 years of age and older. Linear regression was used to compute the relationship between dependent and independent variables. All measures were self-reported. It was found that gender did not significantly affect reports of sleep, pain, or self-efficacy. Self-efficacy accounted for direct relationships with sleep and inverse relationships with pain. Some individuals (16.7%) reported sleeping very well, however, the majority (83.3%) was not sleeping very well, and a greater number of individuals (93.3%) reported having some pain. Among adults with chronic SCD pain, self-efficacy is important in maintaining a stable quality of health. Future assessments, interventions, and research should include comprehensive sleep and pain evaluations, and measures to improve self-efficacy and sleep quality, as well as measures to decrease pain among community-dwelling adults with SCD.