During acute hospitalization, many caregivers decide to stay at the care recipient's bedside over the course of several days or months, coping with a stressful situation and a poor sleeping environment. Our objective was to characterize caregiver sleep-wake cycles during care recipient hospital admission and test the association between sleep location (home versus hospital) and caregiver sleep. Eighty-six informal caregivers (78.8% female; age 55.47 ± 12.43 years) were recruited. For seven consecutive days, caregivers wore actigraphy devices and filled a sleep diary indicating whether they had slept at the hospital or at home. Caregiver insomnia symptoms, anxiety, and depression along with patient dependence were also assessed. Nighttime total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and fragmentation index were described. Mixed-model analyses were used to evaluate the effect of the overnight location (home versus hospital) on caregiver sleep quality. In total, 38.4% of caregivers exhibited poor objective sleep efficiencies (< 80%), and 43% of caregivers reported having moderate to severe insomnia symptoms. Caregivers mostly slept at the hospital (n = 53), but some slept at home (n = 14) or between both locations (n = 19). Mixed-model analyses using actigraphy showed that caregivers had significantly better sleep quality when resting at home regarding wake after sleep onset, fragmentation index, and sleep efficiency (p < .05). Caregivers experienced poor sleep quality during care recipients' hospitalization, specifically when sleeping at the hospital versus sleeping at home. Healthcare workers should ensure caregivers' well-being and strongly encourage caregivers to rest at home whenever possible.
Keywords: caregivers; hospitalization; sleep initiation and maintenance disorders; sleep quality.