Development of a short screening tool measuring sleep quality. Screening tool for sleep quality

Abstract

Sleep is a vital factor in the lives of all individuals and has a wide array of impact concerning physical and mental health. Consequently, a medical professional would benefit from knowing if their patient is dealing with a pattern of poor sleep when starting treatment. This paper outlines the creation of a screening tool for sleep quality which could be used to differentiate between those that sleep well and those that do not. An emphasis was placed on conciseness and ease of use. Currently there is no such sleep questionnaire available in Iceland. The development of this questionnaire involved two studies. Study I included three distinct phases of determining which questions belonged on the questionnaire. The common themes of already existing questionnaires were summarized into items. These items were compared to a summarization done by ChatGPT-4, and eventually underwent cognitive interviews (N = 21) for validation. Study II involved the use of statistical measures, by way of exploratory factor analysis, to examine which questions should remain on the questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered online to participants in a probability-based panel (N = 652). The results of the statistical analysis revealed a six-item questionnaire which loads on a single factor. Further research is needed to see its use in real life setting, accuracy of the questionnaire in identifying poor sleepers and determine necessary adjustments.