Perspetiva dos pais sobre as perturbações do sono das crianças em idade pré-escolar

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sleep has a determining role in child development and when it is disturbed, has a social and an health impact on children and parents. AIM: Identify the sleep disturbances perceived by pre-school children's parents. METHODS: Quantitative, descriptive and correlational study. Non-probabilistic sample with 642 children's parents. Children attend pre-school education in Albergaria-a-Velha (64.2%) and Águeda (35.8), mean age 4.55 (±0.93) years and 51.7% are female. The instrument included a sociodemographic characterization and lifestyle questionnaire and the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that 82.4% of the children presented Global sleep disturbance, being 43.3% female and 5-6 years old. The Resistance to go to bed is classified as intermediate for 41% of the children. In 40.2% the Onset of sleep is adequate (it takes up to 20 minutes) and Sleep duration is adequate for 45.3%. The Anxiety associated with sleep and Parasomnias feature similar values in the three levels of classification. Manifest very frequent Nocturnal awakenings 38.8%. The majority (74.3%) presents reduced respiratory Sleep Disturbance. A third of children have high daytime sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes reveal the need to provide nurses with skills to detect changes in sleep and develop structured programs of parental empowerment to improve children's sleep habits.