Shift work disorder and the prevalence of help seeking behaviors for sleep concerns in Australia: A descriptive study

Mar 7, 2022Chronobiology international

Sleep problems and how often people with shift work disorder seek help in Australia

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

10.5% of Australian workers with non-standard hours met criteria for probable shift work disorder (pSWD).

Workers with pSWD did not seek help for sleep problems more frequently than those without SWD.
General practitioners were the most commonly consulted healthcare professionals for sleep issues among those with pSWD who sought help.
Self-management strategies were prevalent, with 31.7% of workers reporting alcohol use and 76.9% reporting caffeine consumption to manage sleep issues.
A significant number of individuals with pSWD adopted a mentality of 'accept it and keep going' as a strategy for managing sleepiness.
These behaviors may indicate barriers to help seeking among workers with pSWD.

AI simplified

Shift work disorder (SWD) is a circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder, defined by symptoms of insomnia and excessive levels of sleepiness resulting from work that occurs during non-standard hours. Sleep problems are common in shift workers, yet our understanding of help seeking behaviours for sleep in shift workers is limited. The primary aim of this study was to examine the help seeking behaviours of Australian workers who meet criteria for SWD. Of the 448 (46% of sample,= 964 total) Australian workers reporting non-standard work hours, 10.5% (= 41) met the criteria for probable shift work disorder (pSWD). Non-standard workers with pSWD did not seek help for sleep problems at higher rates than workers without SWD. Of the small proportion of workers with pSWD who sought help, general practitioners were the most common healthcare professionals for sleep problems. Self-management was common in workers with pSWD, with a high self-reported prevalence of alcohol use (31.7%) as a sleep management strategy, and caffeine consumption (76.9%) as a sleepiness management strategy. The majority of individuals with pSWD reported the mentality of 'accept it and keep going' as a sleepiness management strategy, highlighting a potential barrier to help seeking behaviour in workers with pSWD. These findings provide novel insight into the help seeking behaviours of those with pSWD. There is a need for further research to understand why individuals at risk for SWD are not actively seeking help, and to develop health promotion and intervention strategies to improve help seeking when needed. n n

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Shift work disorder and the prevalence of help seeking behaviors for sleep concerns in Australia: A descriptive study

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief