Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
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For both groups, participants were required to be aged >18 years. Participant‟s data was<br />
excluded if: 1) they had been diagnosed with a sleep disorder caused by an identified<br />
physical cause such as sleep apnoea or restless legs syndrome; 2) if more than 20% of a<br />
measure with<strong>in</strong> the questionnaire was <strong>in</strong>complete. Healthy control group participants<br />
were excluded if they revealed that they had been diagnosed with FMS.<br />
Outcome Measures<br />
Three hundred <strong>in</strong>formation sheets, consent forms <strong>and</strong> questionnaires were distributed to<br />
potentially eligible participants (150 to „cases‟ <strong>and</strong> 150 to „controls‟) via the post <strong>and</strong><br />
through community group meet<strong>in</strong>gs. Participants were asked to complete the<br />
questionnaire <strong>in</strong> their own time. They were <strong>in</strong>formed that the questions would be ask<strong>in</strong>g<br />
about their thoughts on sleep, perceived stress, sleep quality <strong>and</strong> levels of pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
fatigue. Information on demographic <strong>and</strong> cl<strong>in</strong>ical variables <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g age, medication<br />
use <strong>and</strong> employment status <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g shift work) was requested. In addition the<br />
questionnaire <strong>in</strong>cluded the follow<strong>in</strong>g st<strong>and</strong>ardised assessment measures:<br />
Dysfunctional Beliefs about <strong>Sleep</strong><br />
The Dysfunctional Beliefs <strong>and</strong> Attitudes About <strong>Sleep</strong> Scale (DBAS-10) (Espie et al.,<br />
2000) consists of 10 statements explor<strong>in</strong>g patient beliefs <strong>and</strong> attitudes about sleep. The<br />
participant <strong>in</strong>dicates their level of agreement to each statement on a visual analogue<br />
scale, scor<strong>in</strong>g between 1 „strongly disagree‟ to 10 „strongly agree‟. Items are summed to<br />
yield a total score (maximum possible score of 100). High scores on the DBAS-10 are<br />
<strong>in</strong>dicative of high dysfunctional beliefs about sleep. The DBAS-10 was chosen<br />
specifically, as these 10 items were found to be the most sensitive to change <strong>in</strong> a cl<strong>in</strong>ical<br />
trial <strong>and</strong> were found to have improved <strong>in</strong>ternal consistency <strong>in</strong> comparison to the more<br />
comprehensive DBAS-30 measure (Espie et al., 2000). The DBAS-10 has been found to<br />
be highly correlated with the full DBAS scale (Ed<strong>in</strong>ger & Wohlgemuth, 2001; Espie et<br />
al., 2000; Mor<strong>in</strong> et al., 1993), <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g that the two scales are measur<strong>in</strong>g similar<br />
constructs (Ed<strong>in</strong>ger & Wohlgemuth, 2001). The DBAS-10 has also <strong>in</strong>dependently<br />
revealed respectable <strong>in</strong>ternal consistency (a = 0.7 <strong>in</strong> good sleepers <strong>and</strong> 0.68 <strong>in</strong> people<br />
with <strong>in</strong>somnia) (Ed<strong>in</strong>ger & Wohlgemuth, 2001) <strong>and</strong> has been shown to be sensitive to<br />
recovery (Ed<strong>in</strong>ger, Wohlgemuth, Radtke, Marsh, & Quillian, 2001). The DBAS-16<br />
version of the scales has revealed a test-retest correlation of r=0.83 (Mor<strong>in</strong>, Vallieres, &<br />
Ivers, 2007). The measure has been widely used <strong>in</strong> a cl<strong>in</strong>ical context to identify specific<br />
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