No abstract

Similar to previous reports, both new actigraph brands were found to have good sensitivity (to detect sleep), but poorer specificity (to detect wake). Study results also suggest that researchers should adjust the scoring algorithm/sensitivity depending on a study's design (e.g., young children vs. adolescents, healthy children vs. youth with SDB). Further, inter-device reliability was poor, suggesting the need for caution when comparing results across studies that use different brands of actigraphic devices.

Sensitizing young adults about sleep hygiene knowledge and helpful sleep attitudes may have the potential to instill long-lasting healthy sleep practices. Towards these ends, evaluation of psychoeducational program "Sleep 101" tailored to college students was undertaken. Following two weeks of sleep-log recordings, participants were randomly assigned to a Sleep 101 (experimental) condition or a sleep monitoring (control) condition. The Sleep 101 condition was comprised of two 90-minute workshops aimed to educate students about healthy sleep practices, helpful thoughts about sleep, and ways to improve sleep. The sleep monitoring group received a sleep hygiene handout and completed sleep logs for the study duration. Sleep 101 participants endorsed fewer maladaptive beliefs and attitudes about sleep, increased sleep hygiene knowledge, and reduced sleep onset latency compared to the sleep monitoring participants. Brief psychoeducational courses may be a cost-effective way to alleviate current, and/or prevent future, sleep problems in young adults.

Purpose The purposes of this study are to describe sleep quality and sleep disturbance among caregivers of children in the maintenance phase of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to examine the relationship between sleep quality, child sleep disturbance, and caregiver guilt and worry. Methods Caregivers of 68 children with ALL, ages 3 to 12 years old, completed measures of caregiver guilt and worry, caregiver sleep quality, and child’s developmental history and sleep habits. Demographic and treatment correlates of poor caregiver sleep were examined, and caregiver guilt and worry was tested as a moderator between child and caregiver sleep. Results More than half of caregivers (55.9%) reported clinically significant poor sleep and less than 40% were obtaining adequate sleep durations. Caregiver sleep was significantly related to child age at diagnosis, child sleep, and caregiver guilt and worry. Caregiver guilt and worry did not moderate the relationship between child sleep and caregiver sleep. Conclusions Poor sleep is common in caregivers of children with cancer. Further research on the timing of sleep interventions and the most effective intervention targets are needed to maximize caregiver functioning during a child’s cancer treatment. Targeted interventions seeking to improve caregiver sleep should be directed towards caregivers of children diagnosed in early childhood, caregivers of children with poor sleep, and caregivers with high guilt and worry.

Purpose While actigraphy has gained popularity in pediatric sleep research, questions remain about the validity of actigraphy as an estimate of sleep-wake patterns. In particular, there is little consistency in the field in terms of scoring rules used to determine sleep onset latency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate different criteria of immobility as a measure of sleep onset latency in children and adolescents. Methods Ninety-five youth (ages 3-17 years, 46% male) wore both the Ambulatory-Monitoring Inc. Motionlogger Sleep Watch (AMI) and the Philips Respironics Mini-Mitter Actiwatch-2 (PRMM) during overnight polysomnography in a pediatric sleep lab. We examined different sleep onset latency scoring rules (3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes of immobility) using different algorithms (Sadeh and Cole-Kripke) and sensitivity settings (Low, Medium, High) for the devices. Comparisons were also made across age groups (preschoolers, school-aged, adolescents) and sleep disordered breathing status (no obstructive sleep apnea [OSA], mild OSA, clinically significant OSA). Results For the AMI device, shorter scoring rules performed best for children and longer scoring rules were better for adolescents, with shorter scoring rules best across sleep disordered breathing groups. For the PRMM device, medium to longer scoring rules performed best across age and sleep disordered breathing groups. Conclusions Researchers are encouraged to determine the scoring rule that best fits their population of interest. Future studies are needed with larger samples of children and adolescents to further validate actigraphic immobility as a proxy for sleep onset latency.