Sleep deprivation is an additional stress for parents staying in hospital.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to describe the sleep experience of parents staying overnight with their children in hospital.


METHODS
Parents (n = 102) completed the Verran and Snyder-Halpern Sleep Scale following a night spent with their children in an Australian tertiary pediatric hospital.


RESULTS
Parents experienced sleep deprivation and poor quality of sleep, reporting a mean sleep period of 4.6 hr (SD = 2.1). Having only one child in the room was the only variable that significantly influenced the quality or amount of parental sleep.


CONCLUSIONS
Parental sleep deprivation needs to be acknowledged and accommodated when nurses and parents negotiate the care of children in hospital.
McCann
Damhnat
D
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010371:Pediatric Nursing; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology*