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. 2023 Apr 11:1-23.
doi: 10.1007/s10882-023-09896-7. Online ahead of print.

Simultaneous Recording of Objective Sleep in Mothers and School-aged Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study of Actigraphy and Videosomnography

Jiwon Lee  1 , A J Schwichtenberg  2 , Donald Bliwise  3 , Syeda Zahra Ali  4 , Matthew J Hayat  4 , Patricia C Clark  1 , Regena Spratling  1
Affiliations

Simultaneous Recording of Objective Sleep in Mothers and School-aged Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study of Actigraphy and Videosomnography

Jiwon Lee et al. J Dev Phys Disabil. .

Abstract

Mothers of school-aged children ages 3 to 17 years with developmental disabilities (DDs) commonly report sleep problems in their children associated with impaired maternal sleep. However, existing research relies heavily on mothers' self-reported sleep. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of objectively measuring child and mother sleep-wake patterns using actigraphy and videosomnography. This was an observational pilot study. Mothers wore actigraphy watches and video-recorded their child's sleep for 7 nights. Mothers also completed a 7-day sleep diary and questionnaires on sleep quality, depressive symptoms, stress, and child sleep problems. Ten mothers (32-49 years) and ten children with DDs (8-12 years) completed this study. Half of the children were boys with autism spectrum disorders. We successfully recruited 77% of eligible mothers for the study during the pandemic. Eight mothers successfully wore the actigraphy, and nine successfully video-recorded their child's sleep. Mothers rated their participation positively and considered the data collection protocol acceptable. While mothers' sleep patterns from actigraphy were mostly within recommendations, self-reported sleep quality was poor. Child's sleep estimates from videosomnography showed children slept substantially less than recommended sleep hours. Mothers also reported a high frequency of child sleep problems. Consistent with this pattern, mothers also endorsed elevated stress and depression. The use of actigraphy and videosomnography is feasible. Objective sleep measurement for mothers' and children's sleep is needed with self-report to measure multidimensional aspects of sleep and discrepancies between objective and self-report sleep measures. Future studies can use multi-methods sleep measures and work toward interventions that can improve family sleep and reduce mothers' stress and depression.

Keywords: Actigraphy; Children; Developmental disabilities; Mothers; Sleep; Videosomnography.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of InterestThe authors report that they have no conflict of interest.Competing interestsFindings from this study will be disseminated as a poster presentation at the 2022 SLEEP, the 36th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mothers’ Sleep Onset Time and Sleep Offset Time by Night from 7-Night Actigraphy Hours are presented by hh:mm on a 24-hour clock
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mothers’ Total Sleep Time in Minutes from 7-Night Actigraphy
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Child’s Sleep Onset Time and Sleep Offset Time from 7-night Videosomnography Hours are presented by hh:mm on a 24-hour clock
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Child’s Wake After Sleep Onset in Minutes from 7-Night Videosomnography
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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