Hyeon Sik Chu

Background Many family caregivers of people with dementia (PwDs) have sleep problems and poor sleep quality. Sleep may be negatively affected by caring for a family member with dementia, especially a spouse. Purpose This study was designed to assess sleep quality in spouse caregivers of PwDs and determine the impact of care provision on their sleep quality. Methods A secondary analysis of 58,050 participants in the 2018 Korea Community Health Survey was conducted. To prevent selection bias, a propensity score matching analysis was performed. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the predictors of sleep quality. Results After obtaining a propensity score matching threshold of 3:1, the percentage of poor sleepers was 24.2% in the control group and 33.3% in the spouse-caregiver group, which indicates a significant difference (χ 2 = 11.79, p = .001). After adjusting for depressive symptoms in the multiple logistic analyses, no intergroup difference was found in terms of risk of poor sleep quality (odds ratio = 1.12, 95% CI [0.90, 1.61]). Conclusions/Implications for Practice The findings of this study support that spouse caregivers of PwDs have poorer sleep quality than their nonspouse peers and that management of depressive symptoms is important to improving the sleep quality of spouses providing care to PwDs. Nursing interventions such as light therapy and exposure to sunlight during daytime hours to both improve sleep quality and reduce depressive symptoms can improve sleep quality in this vulnerable caregiver group.

This study aims to identify the effects of daily life changes due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on the depressive symptoms among community‐dwelling older adults. This cross‐sectional and secondary data analysis study collected and analysed the data of 72 335 older adults aged older than 65 who participated in the 2020 Korean Community Health Survey. Changes in daily life due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic were measured by changes in physical activity, sleep duration, consumption of instant foods or soda drinks, alcohol consumption, smoking, and social contact compared to before the pandemic as perceived by the participants. The Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 was used to assess depressive symptoms, and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between the two. After adjusting for socio‐demographic and health‐related factors, changes in daily life due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic that affected depressive symptoms in older adults living in the community were observed. This study confirmed that changes in daily life due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic negatively affected the mental health of older adults. Thus, there is a need to improve social support and care systems, by including non‐face‐to‐face programmes using remote communication technology. It will allow older adults to maintain their daily lives and mental health during the COVID‐19 pandemic.