Disturbed sleep can affect personal wellbeing and impede the rehabilitation and recovery of older people from illness. This paper reports the findings of a pilot study which included examination of sleep quality and sleep patterns of older people in community hospital and nursing home settings. A marked proportion of older people reported sleeping well in nursing care settings, and those in nursing homes slept better than those in the community hospital. The main causes of sleep disturbance in both settings were: needing to go to the toilet, noise, pain, and discomfort; a similar pattern was seen across the different settings. No discernible difference was found in quality of sleep and whether patients felt rested or not between those patients on hypnotic medication and those who were not. The implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.

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A number of areas are outlined for future development and research that aim to address and serve the needs of older people, and which could be supported at a managerial and administrative level to promote positive attitudes.

This paper examines the measurement of sleep in nursing care settings, within the context of a pilot study which aimed to assess the effect of therapeutic back massage by nurses on the quality and pattern of sleep in older people in nursing homes and a community hospital. Sleep is an important factor in effective recovery and rehabilitation from illness and for the quality of life of older people in care settings. Issues are raised concerning the measurement of the sleep of older people for the purposes of evaluation research. New instruments are introduced, some building on existing tools. The value of self-reported and observed sleep data are discussed. Issues of the feasibility and rigour of these instruments are examined and recommendations are made for their further refinement and use.