Research Trends and Instrument for Assessment in Sleep Quality

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the research trends and instruments for assessment of sleep quality in Korea.

Methods: 66 quantitative research reports published from 2000 to March 2009 in Korea were selected from 5 databases: RISS4U, KISS, KISTI, DBpia, and the National Assembly Library and were analyzed according to criteria such as publication years, type of journal, participants, study fields, research design, participants, key words and instruments for assessment.

Results: Research in sleep quality has been rapidly increasing in recent years. More than half of the research analyzed was conducted in nursing. The majority of research methods were survey and correlational research. Patients with chronic illness and the elderly were the major subjects in those researches. Most research was performed based on hospitals and communities. The types of variables tested for their relation and influence on sleep quality were quite limited. With respect to the instrument used for assessing sleep quality, most studies did not consider whether or not the validity of their instrument had been established.

Conclusion: It is recommended to conduct clinically applicable interventional research with an experimental design and to develop a reliability and validity established sleep quality instrument for Koreans.