Development and palliative care staff reactions to a sleep regulation educational intervention

Elizabeth Capezuti; Rana Sagha Zadeh; Michael Ames Brigham; Brooke Ana Dias; Benjamin Chanhee Kim; Evie Lengetti; Belle Erikson; Nancy Swezey; Ana C Krieger

doi:10.1186/s12904-022-00902-x

Development and palliative care staff reactions to a sleep regulation educational intervention

BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Jan 21;21(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-00902-x.

Authors

Elizabeth Capezuti¹, Rana Sagha Zadeh², Michael Ames Brigham³, Brooke Ana Dias³, Benjamin Chanhee Kim³, Evie Lengetti⁴, Belle Erikson⁴, Nancy Swezey⁵, Ana C Krieger⁶

Affiliations

¹ W.R. Hearst Foundation Chair in Gerontology, Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY), 425 E. 25th Street, New York, NY, 10011, USA. ec773@hunter.cuny.edu.
² Health Design Innovations Lab, Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University, 170 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-4401, USA. rzadeh@cornell.edu.
³ Human Ecology, Cornell University, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-4401, USA.
⁴ M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA, 19085, USA.
⁵ Mount Sinai West Operating Room, New York, NY, USA.
⁶ Departments of Medicine, Neurology and Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, 425 E. 61st St. 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.

Abstract

Background: In palliative care, sleep and circadian rhythm problems are common symptoms. Nonpharmacological interventions are available; however, health care providers are not aware of these or lack the knowledge to effectively implement in practice. This study reports the content and design development of the PRIME™ (Program for Improving & Managing Environments for Sleep) sleep online educational intervention as well as the evaluation of the intervention by practicing nurses with a focus on perceived acceptability and satisfaction.

Methods: Development of the education employed a multi-step process that assesses the current state of the science in this area (literature reviews), the needs of regional target recipients (hospice/palliative care staff), expert recommendations and views of a national pool of hospice/palliative workers. A cross-sectional, descriptive study with key staff informants evaluated the acceptability and usability of the modules using both scale-response items to rate the content and design of the modules and overall satisfaction and five open-response questions to suggest changes to the educational intervention.

Results: Among 31 palliative care professionals, most rated the content and design favorably. A total of 20 participants provided suggestions to improve the educational intervention. Their comments were categorized into six themes: Integration into Practice; Content, Exercises and Material Provided by Modules; User Interface and Design; and Adapt and Expand Modules for Public, Family and Caregivers.

Conclusions: The data suggest that the PRIME™ educational intervention can be an effective tool to train direct-care palliative care professionals on interventions for use in their daily practice. We also demonstrated that the educational intervention is feasible to deliver online and that the online modules appealed to respondents, suggesting that future delivery of the educational intervention can use the same or similar modes of presentation.

Keywords: Acceptability; Circadian Rhythm; Health Professional Education; Non-pharmacological Intervention; Palliative Care; Sleep; Usability.

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Hospice Care*
Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing*
Humans
Palliative Care
Sleep

Grants and funding

P30 AG022845/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States