Sleep onset latency and distress in hospitalized children

Abstract

A strategy to promote night sleep was tested in 94 hospitalized 3- to 8-year-old children. Parents were not present at bedtime with the first three of four groups of children who: listened to a parent-recorded story, a stranger-recorded story, or did not listen to a recorded story. The fourth group had parents present at bedtime and the children did not listen to a recorded story. Hypotheses were tested with three dependent variables: a) length of sleep onset latency (SOL), b) incidence of distress, and c) self-soothing behaviors. Length of SOL on Night 2, adjusted for Night 1 length of SOL and observer, showed significant treatment effects. The parent-recorded story group had significantly longer SOL than the other three groups. The group with parents present at bedtime had significantly longer SOL than the no-story group which was not significantly different from the stranger-recorded story group. Distress behaviors on Night 2, adjusted for distress on Night 1, age, and observer, showed significant differences between groups. The parent-recorded story group had a higher incidence of distress behaviors than the other groups; the difference between the parent-recorded and the stranger-recorded group was significant. No significant differences between groups were seen in self-soothing behaviors.