Determination of sleep quality, fatigue and related factors in nursing students

Context: 

Sleep problems may lead to attention disorders, irritability, anxiety, and fatigue in individuals. Fatigue, which is a result of insufficient sleep, may lead to the absence of energy, restlessness, impairment of concentration, and predisposition to accidents in individuals.

The aim of this study was to determine sleep quality, fatigue, and related factors in nursing students. Setting and Design: This study was carried out as a cross-sectional, descriptive, and relationship seeker. This study was carried out with students who study in the Nursing Department of Health College of a University in Southeastern Turkey between May and June 2018.

The population of the study consisted of 380 students and the sample consisted of 281 students who met the criteria for taking. Data were collected using Personal Information Form, Pitssburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Statistical Analysis Used: Percentage, Shapiro–Wilk test, spearman correlation test, Mann–Whitney U-test, and Kruskal–Wallis test were used for data analysis.

The mean PSQI score of the participants was 8.50 ± 2.70, and the mean score of FSS was 4.99 ± 1.40. Correlation analysis revealed a positive moderate correlation between PSQI and FSS at 0.01 level. With PSQI total score, the difference among age, economic status, current location, working status, chronic disease, smoking status, caffeinated beverage consumption status, being late to class, and drowsiness during the lesson of students was found out to be significant (P < 0.05).

In this study, poor sleep quality is common among nursing students and fatigue severity of students with low sleep quality increases. This may affect the success level of students negatively. Thus solution-oriented strategies should be developed based on factors which affect the sleep quality and fatigue level of nursing students.