International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
Open Access

Abstract

Sleep disorders are more likely to affect those with psychiatric disorders than the general population, this likely result in more stress within the individual than the effect of sleep disorders or mental illness alone. Evidence suggests treating sleep disorders may also improve psychiatric symptomatology but it is unclear to what extent treatment programs address sleep disorders within inpatient psychiatric settings. This study examined the prevalence of sleep education in 36 inpatient psychiatric units in the United States. Participants were nursing directors of adult inpatient psychiatric units, who were recruited via mail to complete an online survey. The aim was to determine barriers and topics for future sleep education on inpatient psychiatric units. It was found that 55.6% of units had formalized sleep education (FSE) while 44.4% of units did not have formalized sleep education (NSE) and larger psychiatric units reported less sleep education than smaller units. This study also showed that NSE units served conduct disorder populations more frequently than FSE units. All units surveyed reported they may benefit from education related to sleep and mental health, sleep hygiene, stimulus control and relaxation techniques. Inpatient units which already had formal sleep education also reported the need for education related to preventative sleep care and treatment of sleep disorders.

Biography

Steven M Smith has completed his MS at Drexel University in 2016. He has previously worked in inpatient psychiatric settings where he became impassioned about how care is administered in these settings and will be pursuing healthcare research positions in Boston, MA. When not conducting research, he can be found contributing to the field of basketball analytics.

Email: steve412smith@gmail.com