The effect of sleep hygiene training given to pregnants on sleep quality

This study was conducted as an experimental study to evaluate the effect of sleep hygiene training given to pregnant women on sleep quality. The research was conducted between July 2019 and June 2020 in Gaziantep University Şahinbey Research and Training Hospital Obstetrics&Gynecology Department Outpatient Clinic, with institutional permissions. The sample of the study consisted of pregnant women who had prenatal follow-ups in the outpatient clinic, who were able to communicate in Turkish, who were in the third trimester of their pregnancy, who did not have any diagnosed risk for their current pregnancy and fetus health, who used iron preparations, who were not diagnosed with sleep disorder due to different reasons and volunteer to participate in the study. The study was completed with 120 pregnant women including 60 pregnant control group and 60 experimental group. In order to collect data, "Data Collection Form" and "Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)" were used. Data Collection Form and PSQI were administered to the pregnant women in the experimental group at the first interview. The pregnant women in this group were given Sleep Hygiene Training and a Sleep Hygiene Brochure after the training. PSQI was applied again to the pregnant women in the experimental group one month later. Data Collection Form and PSQI were administered to the pregnant women in the control group at the first interview. The pregnant women in this group were not given any training by the researcher and their routine follow-up was performed in the outpatient clinic. PSQI was applied again to the pregnant women in the control group one month later. The statistical analysis of the data obtained from the research was done by using the IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 package program and the Chi-Square, Wilcoxon, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used. The pre-test PSQI mean score of the control group was 10.35±2.25 and the post-test PSQI mean score was 13.48±2.24. In the experimental group, the pre-test PSQI mean score was 13.48±2.65, while the post-test PSQI mean score was 4.07±2.29. A statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in terms of pre-test and post-test PSQI scores (p <0.001). Sleep quality of all pregnant women in the control group was found to be poor in both pre-test and post-test. While all of the pregnant women in the experimental group had poor sleep quality in the pre-test, 66.7% of them had good sleep quality and 33.3% had poor sleep quality in the post-test. A statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in terms of post-test sleep quality (p <0.001). According to the results obtained from the research, it was observed that sleep hygiene training given to pregnant women increased sleep quality. In order to increase sleep quality in pregnant women, training programs and counseling were recommended by nurses and midwives working in primary health care and antenatal clinics. Key words: sleep hygiene, sleep quality, training, nursing