| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 心理學研究所 === 102 === OBJECTIVE:
Sleep problem in infants and children is a common complaint of their caregivers. It is generally assumed that caregeivers’ perceived distress should be associated with the condition of their children’s sleep. However, the results of a previous study and our pilot study showed an inconsistent relationship between infants’ sleep and their parents’ level of distress about their children’s sleep in Taiwan. Some of the parents perceived severe distress even though their children had normal sleep. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore whether some environmental factors (sleep arrangement, family composition, and the consistency of caregiving attitude between couples and grandparents) and internal factors of the caregivers (sleep quality, depression level, knowledge of infant sleep and dysfunctional beliefs of the caregivers) play a mediating or moderating role in the relationship between infant sleep and parents’ level of distress.
METHOD:
Six hundred and seven parents of infants aged from birth to 3 years were recruited via internet and completed a web-based online questionnaire about their children. The contents of the questionnaire include a self-constructed sleep questionnaire about children's sleep status and demographic data, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure parents’ sleep quality, the Parents Sleep Knowledge Inventory (PSKI) to measure parents’ knowledge of infant sleep, the Maternal Cognitions about Infant Sleep Questionnaire (MCISQ) to measure dysfunctional beliefs of infant sleep, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to measure parents’ depression level. The data was analyzed with hierarchical regression to explore whether environmental and internal factors serve as a mediator or moderator for the association between infant’s sleep condition and parents’ level of distress.
RESULTS:
The results show no or very low association between parents’ rating on question asking whether their childrens have sleep problems and their children’s sleep condition. However, when asking to rate the level of distress, there was a moderate correlation between the rating and their children’s sleep condition. Among the environmental factors, sleep arrangement and the consistency of care attitude between couples or grandparents is a moderator between infant sleep and parents' level of distress. These factor also plays a role in predicting of parents’ level of distress directly. On the other hand, living composition showed no significant predicting or moderating effects on caregivers’ level of distress. Among the internal factors, parents’ sleep quality was found to be a mediator. Parents’ depression level, parents’ knowledge and dysfunctional beliefs of infant sleep was found to be a moderator between infant sleep and parents' level of distress. These factors were also shown to be a predictor of parents’ level of distress.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, the inconsistent relationship between infant sleep and parents’ level of distress in the previous studies maybe due to the wording of questioning. Parents' level of distress was shown to be influenced by infants' sleep. However, parents' level of distress is not explained only by infants' sleep but also by some environmental and internal factors. Parents' knowledge of infant sleep is the most consistent factor that influences parents' level of distress. The less correct the parents’ sleep knowledge, the lower the predictability of infants' sleep on parents' level of distress. In addition, lower consistency of care attitude between couples and grandparents, poorer sleep quality and higher depression level, and higher dysfunctional belief about anger are associated with higher level of distress. Overall, parents' cognitive and emotional factors play an important role in the perceived distress about their childrens’ sleep. The results imply that in clinical intervention for infants’ sleep problem, the environmental and internal factors of parents need to be considered. The intervention may need to include procedures targeting these factors, such as increasing consistency of care attitude between couples and grandparents, giving sleep hygience education to increase knowledge of infant sleep, discussing and modifying the dysfunctional beliefs, improving parents’ sleep quality and treating depression.
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