Massey Documents by Type

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Multi-modal sleep intervention for community-dwelling people living with dementia and primary caregiver dyads with sleep disturbance: protocol of a single-arm feasibility trial
(PeerJ Inc., 2023-01-01) Verma S; Varma P; Brown A; Bei B; Gibson R; Valenta T; Pietsch A; Cavuoto M; Woodward M; McCurry S; Jackson ML; Keogh J
Background. Disturbed sleep is common among people living with dementia and their informal caregivers, and is associated with negative health outcomes. Dyadic, multi-modal interventions targeting caregiver and care-recipient sleep have been recommended yet remain limited. This protocol details the development of a singlearm feasibility trial of a multi-modal, therapist-led, six-week intervention targeting sleep disturbance in dyads of people living with dementia and their primary caregiver. Methods. We aim to recruit 24 co-residing, community-dwelling dyads of people living with dementia and their primary informal caregiver (n D 48) with sleep concerns (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index ≥5 for caregivers, and caregiver-endorsed sleep concerns for the person living with dementia). People who live in residential care settings, are employed in night shift work, or are diagnosed with current, severe mental health conditions or narcolepsy, will be excluded. Participants will wear an actigraph and complete sleep diaries for two weeks prior, and during the last two weeks, of active intervention. The intervention is therapist-led and includes a mix of weekly small group video sessions and personalised, dyadic sessions (up to 90 min each) over six weeks. Sessions are supported by a 37-page workbook offering strategies and spaces for reflections/notes. Primary feasibility outcomes are caregiver: session attendance, attrition, and self-reported project satisfaction. Secondary outcomes include dyadic self-reported and objectively-assessed sleep, depression and anxiety symptoms, quality of life, and social support. Self-report outcomes will be assessed at pre- and postintervention. Discussion. If feasible, this intervention could be tested in a larger randomised controlled trial to investigate its efficacy, and, upon further testing, may potentially represent a non-pharmacological approach to reduce sleep disturbance among people living with dementia and their caregivers.
"It's Just [Complicated] Sleep": Discourses of Sleep and Aging in the Media.
(Oxford University Press, 2023-12) Breheny M; Ross I; Ladyman C; Signal L; Dew K; Gibson R
The media are influential in shaping beliefs and attitudes on aging and health-related behaviors. Sleep is increasingly recognized as a key pillar for healthy aging. However, the role of media representations of sleep is yet to be assessed with regard to discourses of aging. Texts from New Zealand's main free online news source were collated using key words "sleep" together with "aging," "older," "elderly," or "dementia" between 2018 and 2021. Contents of 38 articles were interpreted using critical discourse analysis. Discursive constructions described an inevitable decline of sleep with aging, including impacts of both physiological decline and life stage transitions; sleep's role as both a remedy and risk for ill health and disease; and the simplification of solutions for self-managing sleep juxtaposed alongside recognition of its complexity. The audience of these complex messages is left in the invidious position of both pursuing sleep practices to prevent age-related decline, whilst also being told that sleep degradation is inevitable. This research demonstrates the complexity of media messaging and the fraught options it offers: good sleep as both a reasonable achievement to strive for and as impossibly idealistic. Findings mirror two predominant health identities available to older people, as responsible for resisting aging or as falling into inevitable decline. This reveals additional expectations around appropriate time use and behaviors with aging. More nuanced messaging that goes beyond sleep as a resource for health and waking productivity is recommended. Acknowledging the complexity of sleep, aging, and society could be the starting point of such adaptation.
Group treatment of anxiety-related insomnia using cognitive-behavioural therapy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2013) de Lacerda Mottin, Fernanda
Insomnia affects 25% of the New Zealand population and up to 33% of the population worldwide. Untreated it incurs high economical costs to society and takes its toll on the people’s mental health, physical health, and quality of life. Psychological treatments for insomnia have developed over the decades to reflect the scientific literature’s knowledge about the causal and maintaining factors of insomnia (i.e., maladaptive behaviours and cognitions about sleep and the consequences of insomnia and physiological and cognitive arousal). The critical review found that although physiological and cognitive arousal play a significant role in the development and maintenance of insomnia and there is some evidence that anxiety disorders predict the development of insomnia, few published treatment programmes targeted all causal and maintaining factors as described in the literature. The current main clinical study investigated the effectiveness of a group therapy programme that targeted all the main factors described in the literature. Twenty-eight participants suffering chronic insomnia and at least subclinical anxiety or stress were randomly assigned to one of two treatment interventions, administered through five treatment groups. Each group had 5-6 participants. Two groups received the insomnia first intervention (n = 11) and three groups received the anxiety first intervention (n = 17). Within- and between-subjects analyses were performed. Follow-up assessment took place about three months after the end of each treatment group. The main study found that targeting anxiety (i.e., physiological and cognitive arousal) directly improved participants’ insomnia, t(1708) = 3.574, p <.001, d = .86. At three months post-treatment, both treatment conditions had large effect sizes on measures of insomnia severity (insomnia first d = 3.35; anxiety first d = 1.17) and sleep efficiency (insomnia first d = 1.09; anxiety first d = 1.17). However, in examining the outcome trajectories, the anxiety first intervention produced more consistent improvement across the course of the therapy sessions, which might be more desirable for both clients and clinicians. This study provided evidence that a cost-effective group intervention is beneficial for symptoms of insomnia and anxiety, and it also significantly improves participants’ quality of life. While some findings need replication (e.g., order of interventions), this study showed not only that insomnia can and should be treated, but also that its assessment and treatment must address anxiety as well as sleep. Given the high occurrence and co-morbidity of insomnia, and its detrimental effects for the individual and the society, psychological interventions for insomnia should be more readily available in New Zealand.

Massey Documents by Type

Browse

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page

Search Results