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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conducted at several time po<strong>in</strong>ts, would provide further clarity on the role of cop<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
FMS outcomes.<br />
In addition to talk<strong>in</strong>g about their sleep experience, participants also raised a number of<br />
issues unrelated to sleep as part of the <strong>in</strong>terview. Some of these issues such as the<br />
dem<strong>and</strong>s of liv<strong>in</strong>g with an „<strong>in</strong>visible illness‟, the impact of diagnosis, their relationship<br />
with their health care provider <strong>and</strong> their daily lives have been described <strong>in</strong> previous<br />
research (Arnold et al., 2008; Cunn<strong>in</strong>gham & Jill<strong>in</strong>gs, 2006; Madden & Sim, 2006; Sim<br />
& Madden, 2008), <strong>and</strong> were therefore not <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong> this analysis. However, it is<br />
important to acknowledge these issues <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terpretation of the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs from this<br />
study.<br />
The ability to generalise the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs from this study may be reduced as the sample may<br />
not be representative of the population of people with FMS. Variations <strong>in</strong> sleep quality<br />
may exist between patients with different degrees of disease severity or due to other<br />
aspects of the patient‟s history. However, one of the aims of IPA is to identify a relevant<br />
homogenous sample for the research question <strong>in</strong> order to conduct a detailed exploration<br />
of the research question <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dividual experience.<br />
A further limitation of the study was that the sleep experience was only explored at one<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong> time <strong>and</strong> it is likely that the quality of sleep changes over the course of time <strong>and</strong><br />
over the course of the illness. Qualitative <strong>in</strong>terviews conducted across several time-<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ts would provide a greater underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of these changes <strong>and</strong> the adaptations<br />
people make to adjust to liv<strong>in</strong>g with FMS <strong>and</strong> poor sleep.<br />
One of the key strengths of qualitative research is that it can elicit new <strong>in</strong>formation to<br />
<strong>in</strong>form future research. The f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs also highlighted that a number of studies are<br />
needed to <strong>in</strong>crease our underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of the role of sleep <strong>in</strong> FMS, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the effect<br />
<strong>and</strong> use of daytime napp<strong>in</strong>g as a cop<strong>in</strong>g strategy, existence of possible sleep disorders<br />
<strong>and</strong> further exploration of the use of hypnotic medication with<strong>in</strong> this population.<br />
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