Comparing the experiences of cancer survivors living with sleep disturbances between differing levels of psychological distress: a qualitative study.

IF 3.4 2区 医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY
Julia Chan, Danielle Wing Lam Ng, Richard Fielding, Wendy Wing Tak Lam
{"title":"Comparing the experiences of cancer survivors living with sleep disturbances between differing levels of psychological distress: a qualitative study.","authors":"Julia Chan, Danielle Wing Lam Ng, Richard Fielding, Wendy Wing Tak Lam","doi":"10.1186/s12888-024-06344-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Psychological distress often co-occurs with sleep disturbances; but the specific mechanisms linking the two remain unclear. A qualitative study explored perceptions and factors associated with sleep disturbances in cancer survivors between patients with varying levels of psychological distress.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Thirty-three Cantonese speaking mixed type cancer survivors were recruited from a community cancer care program. Participants that scored > 5 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and had non-clinical or borderline to clinical levels of psychological distress underwent semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analyzed using grounded theory.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Common triggers of sleep disturbances included unresolved treatment side-effects, intrusive thoughts about cancer and fear of cancer recurrence or progression, poor sleep hygiene and a lack of routine. Those with higher levels of distress exhibited more worry about recovery after cancer. Further, they engaged in thought suppression and experienced meta-worry about negative emotions and worry of poor sleep impacting recovery and cancer progression. They commonly exhibited high sleep reactivity and were observed to have limited social support. In contrast, those with low distress adopted better adaptive mechanisms, including a changed commitment to prioritizing health and positive reappraisal of their recovery progress. Self-distraction was used to cope with sleep disturbances and they had fewer expectations of good sleep quality.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings provided insights into the suitability of interventions for patients with sleep disturbances. Interventions targeting maladaptive emotion-focused coping may be more effective in addressing sleep disturbances in cancer survivors with higher distress. Interventions adopting a stepped-care approach may be advantageous in managing sleep disturbances by catering for varying levels of distress.</p>","PeriodicalId":9029,"journal":{"name":"BMC Psychiatry","volume":"24 1","pages":"869"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11610178/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06344-4","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Psychological distress often co-occurs with sleep disturbances; but the specific mechanisms linking the two remain unclear. A qualitative study explored perceptions and factors associated with sleep disturbances in cancer survivors between patients with varying levels of psychological distress.

Methods: Thirty-three Cantonese speaking mixed type cancer survivors were recruited from a community cancer care program. Participants that scored > 5 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and had non-clinical or borderline to clinical levels of psychological distress underwent semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analyzed using grounded theory.

Results: Common triggers of sleep disturbances included unresolved treatment side-effects, intrusive thoughts about cancer and fear of cancer recurrence or progression, poor sleep hygiene and a lack of routine. Those with higher levels of distress exhibited more worry about recovery after cancer. Further, they engaged in thought suppression and experienced meta-worry about negative emotions and worry of poor sleep impacting recovery and cancer progression. They commonly exhibited high sleep reactivity and were observed to have limited social support. In contrast, those with low distress adopted better adaptive mechanisms, including a changed commitment to prioritizing health and positive reappraisal of their recovery progress. Self-distraction was used to cope with sleep disturbances and they had fewer expectations of good sleep quality.

Conclusions: Findings provided insights into the suitability of interventions for patients with sleep disturbances. Interventions targeting maladaptive emotion-focused coping may be more effective in addressing sleep disturbances in cancer survivors with higher distress. Interventions adopting a stepped-care approach may be advantageous in managing sleep disturbances by catering for varying levels of distress.

求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
BMC Psychiatry
BMC Psychiatry 医学-精神病学
CiteScore
5.90
自引率
4.50%
发文量
716
审稿时长
3-6 weeks
期刊介绍: BMC Psychiatry is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信