Providing the Best Sleep Bedroom Environment for Children with Cerebral Palsy

• Author / Creator

  Dutt, Risha

• Sleep is an active process, essential for physical, emotional and cognitive development of
  children. Between 23-46% of children with cerebral palsy (CP) have sleep problems. Often sleep
  problems go undiagnosed and undertreated in spite of the serious impact of sleep deficiency on
  children’s health and development. Interventions, if they are offered, are most often
  pharmacological. However medication side effects are a significant concern and the evidencebase is lacking. There is a need for effective non-pharmacological intervention to address sleep
  problems.
  Objectives: 1) To determine if providing parents with sleep education and problem solving
  strategies, in the form of a manual, increases parental knowledge. 2) To determine if increases in
  knowledge then translate to parents taking actions to address features in the bedroom that
  negatively affect sleep.
  Methods: This pilot study used a single-case series design. Recruitment of child/parent
  participants was through community partners. Baseline and 6 week follow-up data collection
  included the Parental Sleep Environment Knowledge Questionnaire (PSEKQ), Parental
  Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale, Child Sleep Habit Questionnaire, Parent Knowledge of
  Healthy Sleep and objective sleep actigraphy. Parents received the Children’s Best Bedroom for
  Sleep (CBBES) manual (including basic sleep science information, a self-assessment tool, and
  ii
  environmental modification recommendations) as the intervention post-baseline. Descriptive
  statistics were used for analysis.
  Results: There were 6 parent/child participants. As expected, minimal change was demonstrated
  in parents sleep behavioural measures. Scores on the Parent Sleep Environment Knowledge
  Questionnaire (PSEKQ) improved slightly (66.66% at baseline to 78.33% at follow-up). Also,
  the post-intervention results using the bedroom environment assessment checklist provided in the
  CBBES manual demonstrated improved parent ability to assess their child’s bedroom and act to
  correct problems.
  Conclusion: Results support that providing parents with a sleep environment psycho-education
  manual to build knowledge and skills for addressing environmental components of their child’s
  sleep problems. This research is innovative and will benefit not only children with cerebral palsy
  and their parents but may also apply to children with other health conditions.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Sleep problems
  • Cererbral palsy
  • Environment effect on sleep

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3RR1PZ7V

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.