Feasibility of a new homebased ballistocardiographic tool for sleep-assessment in a real-life context among workers

There is a need for simple and suitable tools for assessing sleep in a natural home environment.

This study explores the feasibility in terms of implementation and acceptability of a new homebased ballistocardiographic (BCG) tool for objective sleep-assessment in a real-life context.

The participants included thirty-nine workers, taking part in two seven nights' sleep-assessment periods. Objective data regarding sleep was collected with BCG. Subjective data regarding sleep was collected with a sleep diary. Implementation was analysed by determining the number of nights with usable signal quality and comparing with the total number of potential nights and by exploring associations between objective and subjective sleep data. Acceptability was analysed by categorizing the participants' experiences of how the BCG tool impacted the sleep.

In terms of implementation, usable BCG data increased from 40% at assessment phase 1 to 70% during assessment phase 2. Moreover, in assessment phase 2, there was a significant moderate correlation between the 'time in bed' assessed by the BCG and in sleep diary by participants in the first five nights. In terms of acceptability, almost one third of the participants did not experience any impact of the BCG on the sleep. Two participants experienced a major negative impact on the sleep.

This study indicates that the novel BCG tool could be feasible for objective assessing of sleep in workers natural home-environment in the future, but there is still a need for development of the BCG both regarding technology and implementation process.