Parents’ perception of the sleep habits and quality of preschool-aged children

Abstract

Background: Sleep quality is essential for children’s well-being during the day and to optimize their school performance. Objectives: To characterize the sleep habits and quality of preschool-aged children based on their parents’ perceptions. Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive, and correlational study was conducted using a nonprobability sample of 642 parents of children attending preschool in the municipalities of Albergaria-a-Velha (64.2%) and Águeda (35.8%). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used. Results: The results showed that 64.8% of children had a good sleep quality; 47.2% of them took 16 to 30 minutes to fall asleep; 88.3% of them slept between 9 and a half hours and 10 and a half hours; 84% had very good habitual sleep efficiency; 75.4% had sleep disturbance; 97.5% did not use sleeping pills; and 76.6% had no daytime dysfunction. Conclusion: Although sleep quality is good in most of the children, a number of concerns were identified. Thus, sleep hygiene education should be provided to parents and the preschool community.