Longitudinal Analysis of Cancer Family Caregiver Perception of Sleep Difficulty During Home Hospice

Abstract

Background

Sleep difficulty in caregivers is associated with poor physical and psychological outcomes. The purpose of this study was to describe family caregivers’ perception of sleep difficulty through the hospice trajectory after a cancer diagnosis as predicted by age, sex, self-report of anxiety or depression, and cohabitation.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of longitudinal data using multilevel modeling with nested model comparisons. Beginning with an unconditional growth model, predictors were added to nested models to test differential impact.

Results

Caregivers (n = 164) were predominately white (n = 160; 97%) and female (n = 113, 69%). We hypothesized that age, sex, history of anxiety or depression, and cohabitation would predict sleep difficulty. The cohabitation predictor model was a statistically significant model for caregiver perception of sleep difficulty that worsened throughout hospice caregiving (b = .184, $\chi$ ² = 7.199, P = 0.027) but age, sex, and history of depression or anxiety did not improve model fit.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate that family caregivers who cohabitate exhibit increased perception of sleep difficulty over the course of hospice. Future studies and interventions for hospice family caregivers’ sleep should consider cohabitation between the patient and the caregiver as a significant predictor of sleep difficulty to observe and potentially mediate the negative outcomes associated with caregiver sleep difficulty. Further, determining the underlying reasons for sleep difficulty in cohabitation (e.g., patient symptoms or treatments) should be explored.