Night Shift Work and Sleep Experiences in Older Night Shift Nurses

Working at night leads to misalignment between the biological clock and the work/sleep schedule, resulting in sleepiness and impaired performance during the night shift and poor quality, shortened sleep during the day; this is greatly impaired in older individuals.

To describe night work and sleep experiences from the perspective of older (aged 50-65) nurses.

Seven virtual focus groups were formed comprising 19 older nurses who worked regular 8-hour night shifts (at least 6 consecutive hours between midnight and 6 am) to learn about their shift work and sleep experiences. Two facilitators and 2 research assistants independently reviewed and coded the transcripts using qualitative content analysis.

Nine themes were identified in 3 domains: (a) night shift challenges and difficulties, including first night shift is most difficult; never feel rested working nights; and personal health concerns and benefits from working nights; (b) sleep challenges and difficulties, including inconsistent sleep timing when switching between nights and days; extended (24+ hours) time awake before and after consecutive nights; difficulty maintaining long and sound daytime sleep; and napping before night shifts for better performance; and (c) family and social challenges and support, including childcare, family, personal obligations, and social activities affect sleep; aging of self and children influences sleep and prioritization of sleep.

The findings help understand challenges and struggles to obtain adequate sleep and safe work performance in older night shift nurses. These insignts are critical for designing and implementing feasible and acceptable interventions to improve sleep in this high-risk occupational group.