Sociocultural variations of coping strategies for sleep difficulties in couple relationships in Canada and Brazil

Abstract

The couple relationship (marriage/cohabitation) is, for most adults, the primary social context of sleep. Although there is a growing literature on couples’ sleep, no qualitative cross-cultural study on this topic has yet been published. The aim of the present study was to explore the strategies used by adult couples with sleep difficulties from two different cultures, as well as the potential sociocultural variations related to these strategies. Six couples in Quebec City (Canada) and five couples in Fortaleza (Brazil), of which one or both partners experienced sleep difficulties, were recruited. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and gave open-ended reports regarding their sleep every morning for a week. They also took part in an in-depth semistructured interview for couples. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the Critical Phenomenological Method. The participants’ strategies in the face of sleep difficulties fell into three modalities: individual, common and shared, and common and independent. Within these modalities, seven strategies were identified in both research sites: body and mind relaxation before sleep, stress reduction in daily life, reduction of sleep performance anxiety, respect of the partner’s sleep, intervention or drug use to induce sleep or to reduce diurnal sleepiness, diet monitoring, and naps. The present study reveals that the coping strategies used by partners are related not only to the individual, but can be shared, and are closely related to the sociocultural, economic and environmental contexts of their respective countries.