Management of sleep disturbance in care homes: Feasibility study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sleep disturbance and nighttime care for people with dementia living in care homes (NightCAP): Feasibility Study
IRAS ID
204641
Contact name
Anne Corbett
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 1 months, 20 days
Research summary
There are 800,000 people with dementia in the UK, and this is expected to rise to over 1 million by 2025. One third of people with dementia in the UK live in care homes. Over 40% of these individuals experience sleep disturbance. This can be caused by a number of factors including restlessness and insomnia due to symptoms or medications, night time disturbances from staff or other residents and behavioural symptoms such as agitation. This can lead to problems in many aspects of their health and wellbeing, including increased problems with memory, risk of mortality and behavioural symptoms, as well as missed meals and chances to interact with others due to daytime napping.
Sleep disturbance is also a challenge for care staff, particularly due to low night staffing levels. Despite the importance of the issue few studies have examined the prevalence or full impact of sleep disturbance, and there is no evidence-based guidance available.
This study follows the consultation phase of this PhD, which utilised qualitative and quantitative methodology including focus groups and informal interviews to inform the development of a sleep management programme for use in care homes.
This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and fidelity of the sleep disturbance management programme called NightCAP. This is a four week pilot study in up to six care homes (based on the number of participants recruited per home) with up to 40 people with dementia. This study concludes with interviews and focus groups at the close of the study to examine the appropriateness and overall impact of this programme on staff carers and people with dementia.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1344
Date of REC Opinion
25 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion