Hospital-acquired insomnia scale: A validity and reliability study

BACKGROUND: Sleep breathing, one of the basic human needs, is a physiological need that affects cardiac functions, body temperature, daily vitality, muscle tone, hormone secretion, blood pressure, and many more. In the international literature, studies reported that patients have had sleep problems in the hospital since the 1990s, but no measurement tool has been developed to determine the causes of hospital-acquired insomnia in individuals. These findings suggest that sleep remains in the background compared to activities such as nutrition and breathing. Although patients generally experience hospital-acquired sleep problems, there is no measurement tool to determine hospital-acquired sleep problems. These features show the originality of the research. AIM: To develop a measurement tool to determine the sleep problems experienced by patients in the hospital. METHODS: A personal information form, hospital-acquired insomnia scale (HAIS), and insomnia severity index (ISI) were used to collect research data. The study population consisted of patients hospitalized in the internal and surgical clinics of a research hospital in Turkey between December 2021 and March 2022. The sample consisted of 64 patients in the pilot application stage and 223 patients in the main application stage. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) analyses were performed using the SPSS 20 package program and the analysis of moment structure (AMOS) package program. Equivalent forms method used. RESULTS: The HAIS consisted of 18 items and 5 subscales. The Cronbach alpha values of the subscales ranged between 0.672 and 0.842 and the Cronbach alpha value of the overall scale was 0.783. The scale explained 58.269% of the total variance. The items that constitute the factors were examined in terms of content integrity and named as physical environmental, psychological, safety, socioeconomic, and nutritional factors. CFA analysis of the 5-factor structure was performed in the AMOS package program. The fit indices of the obtained structure were examined. It was determined that the values obtained from the fit indices were sufficient. A significant correlation was determined between the HAIS and the ISI, which was used for the equivalent form method. CONCLUSION: The HAIS is a valid and reliable measurement tool for determining patients’ level of hospital-acquired insomnia. It is recommended to use this measurement tool to determine the insomnia problems of patients and to adapt it in other countries.