Measuring What Matters in Sleep: Development and Validation of the Sleep Health Dimensions Questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Sleep Science
• Psychometrics
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Sleep health is a complex construct with six key dimensions: satisfaction, alertness, timing, regularity, efficiency, and duration.
• Variations in sleep health are linked to mental and physical well-being, necessitating robust assessment tools.
• Existing measures may not fully capture the multifaceted nature of sleep health across diverse adult populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Sleep Health Dimensions Questionnaire (SHDQ) as a comprehensive measure of adult sleep health.
• To assess the psychometric properties, including reliability, validity, and factor structure, of the SHDQ.

Main Methods:

• The SHDQ was administered to 1273 college students.
• Participants also completed measures of insomnia, depression, anxiety, emotion regulation, and health-related quality of life.
• Statistical analyses included reliability testing, validity assessments, and structural equation modeling (SEM).

Main Results:

• The SHDQ exhibited strong internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.80) and item-total correlations (r > 0.30).
• Convergent and divergent validity were confirmed, and the SHDQ accurately identified clinical insomnia.
• The SEM model supported a latent variable of multi-dimensional sleep health, with SHDQ dimensions as effective indicators.

Conclusions:

• The SHDQ is a psychometrically sound instrument for comprehensively evaluating the dimensions of sleep health.
• This questionnaire serves as a valuable research tool for investigating the links between sleep health and overall mental and physical health.
• The SHDQ is applicable across various adult populations, facilitating broader research into sleep health determinants and consequences.