Sleep quality and subjective well-being in healthcare students: examining the role of anxiety and depression

Yihong Zhu; Runtang Meng; Chen Jiang; Nongnong Yang; Mengyi Huang; Xiaowen Wang; Wenjing Zou; Chen Lou; Ruohan Xiao; Jingjing Lu; Jiale Xu; Ulises Jiménez-Correa; Haiyan Ma; Karen Spruyt; Joseph M Dzierzewski

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1281571

Sleep quality and subjective well-being in healthcare students: examining the role of anxiety and depression

Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 11:11:1281571. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1281571. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yihong Zhu^#¹, Runtang Meng^#^{2

3}, Chen Jiang^#², Nongnong Yang^#², Mengyi Huang^#², Xiaowen Wang², Wenjing Zou², Chen Lou⁴, Ruohan Xiao⁴, Jingjing Lu⁴, Jiale Xu², Ulises Jiménez-Correa⁵, Haiyan Ma^#^{2

3}, Karen Spruyt^#⁶, Joseph M Dzierzewski^#⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
² School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
³ Engineering Research Center of Mobile Health Management System, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁴ School of Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁵ Sleep Disorders Clinic, Research Division, Medicine Faculty, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico.
⁶ Université Paris Cité, NeuroDiderot, INSERM, Paris, France.
⁷ National Sleep Foundation, Washington, DC, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: Sleep issues, negative emotions, and health conditions are commonly co-occurring, whereas their associations among healthcare students have yet to be elucidated. This study aimed to examine whether anxiety and depression mediate the relationship between sleep quality and subjective well-being in healthcare students.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Chinese healthcare students (N = 348). A battery of paper-and-pencil questionnaires-the Sleep Quality Questionnaire (SQQ), World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) were applied. Descriptive analysis with means (standard deviations) and counts (proportions), Spearman correlation analysis between the SQQ, WHO-5, and PHQ-4, and mediation analysis via structural equation models were performed.

Results: Correlation analysis revealed statistically significant associations between sleep quality, anxiety and depression, and well-being among healthcare students. Mediation analysis identified that poor sleep quality produced relatively low levels of self-reported well-being, which were entirely attributable to anxiety and depression.

Conclusion: Sleep quality was associated with subjective well-being, and this interrelationship was fully mediated by anxiety and depression. Interventions aimed at promoting sleep quality of healthcare students may contribute to promoting their well-being by reducing anxiety and depression.

Keywords: anxiety and depression; healthcare students; mediation; sleep quality; well-being.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anxiety / psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression* / epidemiology
Depression* / psychology
Humans
Sleep Quality*
Students / psychology

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Medical Research Fund of Zhejiang Province, Grant No. 2023RC073 and the Research Initiation Fund of Hangzhou Normal University, Grant No. RWSK20201003.