Annals of Long Term Care

Many nursing home patients report difficulty sleeping. These disturbances are often attributed to noise and commotion inside and outside of patients’ rooms, yet few studies look at possible psychological causes for sleep trouble. In a study published in the January 2012 issue of Family Practice (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22232547), German researchers reported the results of qualitative interviews with 30 nursing home residents. Based on the residents’ responses, the researchers constructed a typology of residents regarding their perceived barriers to sleep; three major types were identified: (1) residents with non-psychological–only barriers, such as light and noise; (2) residents who were worried about their current situation (eg, experienced disturbing events during the day or had appointments scheduled for the following day); and (3) residents who suffered from traumatic memories. The third group of residents was characterized as easily disturbed by any type of psychological distress. The researchers concluded that there is a need to conduct further studies in this area. “Future research should address nursing home residents’ psychological barriers to sleeping well, and the presented typology should be operationalized and tested quantitatively,” the authors wrote.