Sleep and daytime sleepiness in first-time mothers during early postpartum in Taiwan
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of postpartum
sleep and daytime sleepiness and examine the interrelationships among these
characteristics in first-time mothers during early postpartum in Taiwan. The
relationships among daytime sleepiness, postpartum sleep (i.e., sleep quality,
perceived sleep debt), and maternal (i.e., perceived assistance, self-care, infantcare
activities, co-sleep practices, and sleep interrupted by the baby) and
psychological influencing factors (i.e., perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and
health status) were also explored. Four types of daytime sleepiness were derived
from the four adaptive modes of the Roy Adaptation Model that also served as a
theoretical framework for organizing the relationships among variables of interest.
A descriptive correlational design was used in this study with a sample of
189 first-time mothers at 2 to 3 weeks postpartum. The relative contributions of
maternal, psychological influencing factors and postpartum sleep on daytime
sleepiness were tested by hierarchical multiple regression. The mediator function
of postpartum sleep was examined by path analyses without latent variables.
Mothers’ nocturnal sleep quality was not ensured by the cultural practice
of “doing-the-month.” Mothers still experienced significantly decreased sleep
quality and perceived themselves as having about 3 hours of sleep debt. A lack of
strong associations among the four types of daytime sleepiness supports the idea
that sleepiness is a multifaceted phenomenon. In spite of high levels of daytime
sleepiness in two types of sleepiness (physiological and self-concept modes),
mothers did not frequently perceive their performance of infant-care was impaired
by daytime sleepiness (role function mode).
Only the variable of co-sleep practices had statistically significant
contributions to both sleep quality and perceived sleep debt, after controlling other
predictors. Sleep quality was not a prominent contributor to any of the four types
of daytime sleepiness. Mothers’ perception of sleep debt was a significant
contributor to one type of daytime sleepiness (interdependence mode). The unique
contribution of psychological influencing factors to the explanation of all the four
types of daytime sleepiness was statistically significant. The indirect effects of
maternal and psychological influencing factors, via postpartum sleep, on the four
types of daytime sleepiness were not supported.
Department
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