The Meanings of Sleep: Stories from Older Women in Care

Abstract

This paper analyses data from a two phase project which utilizes a mixed methods design to investigate the construct of ‘good’ and ‘poor’ sleep quality amongst older women in Australian residential care. Phase one of the study demonstrates the lack of congruence between quantitative measures of sleep behaviour and self categorizations by the participants as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ sleepers. This lack of congruence is explored in the second phase of the project where semi structured interviews investigate the process by which self categorizations emerge. Interview data ratifies the findings of phase one identifying that the process of self-categorization is not necessarily linked to sleep behaviours, as many of these phenomena such as nocturnal disruption, or early morning awakenings were similarly described by self-categorized ‘good’ and ‘poor’ sleepers. Rather, it appears that these women, through the process of upward and downward social comparison, construct ideas about ‘normal’ sleep, and it is this normative definition, rather than the sleep phenomena experienced, that the individual uses to provide a benchmark for their self-categorization of sleep quality.