Sleep in College Students: A Mixed Methods Study

College students in particular have chronically restricted sleep patterns and experience more daytime sleepiness, and physical and mental health issues than their same-aged peers who are not students. Sleep is an emerging area of research and intervention for occupational therapists. The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate how college student’s beliefs about sleep affect their quality of sleep. This study asked: how do beliefs and attitudes about sleep affect sleep quality and participation in valued occupations in college students? Four college students were interviewed regarding their sleep beliefs and attitudes. They also completed a two-week sleep diary to determine their general sleep beliefs and attitudes and daily behavior. The interviews were coded for themes and four emerging themes were identified: a) beliefs about sleep patterns related to temporal structure of sleep, b) the impact of stress on sleep, c) occupational performance in terms of performance in the occupation of sleep and performance in all other occupations (daytime performance), and d) conflicting beliefs about sleep. Sleep diary data revealed that participants’ idealized sleep beliefs are not consistent with actual behavior. From these themes researchers concluded that college students do not have well defined beliefs and attitudes about sleep or consistent, routine sleep schedules, leading to fair sleep quality and performance of daily occupations.https://scholar.dominican.edu/ug-student-posters/1031/thumbnail.jp

Sleep as an Occupation in College Students: A Mixed Method Study

Sleep is an emerging area of research and practice for occupational therapists. The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate how college students’ cognitive perceptions and beliefs about sleep affect their quality of sleep. Four college students participated in qualitative interviews investigating their sleep beliefs and attitudes. The students also completed a two-week daily sleep diary to report their sleep beliefs, attitudes, and daily living patterns. Four emerging themes were identified from the interviews: beliefs about sleep patterns related to temporal structure of sleep, stress, daytime performance associated with sleep, and conflicting beliefs about sleep. Daily sleep diaries also revealed inconsistencies between idealized and actual sleep patterns. Based on the identified themes and sleep diary data, researchers concluded that college students do not have defined beliefs and attitudes about the value of sleep or consistent, routine sleep schedules. Occupational therapy interventions should strive to identify beliefs and attitudes about sleep in order to change non-adaptive beliefs and help clients develop routines to improve sleep quality and daytime performance

Critically Appraised Paper for “Bobath concept versus constraint-induced movement therapy to improve arm functional recovery in stroke patients: A randomized controlled trial.” Clinical Rehabilitation

The researchers used a Level I, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial design to compare the functional arm recovery of 22 high-functioning poststroke participants. Participants were evenly assigned to receive therapy using the Bobath concept or constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT). The first intervention group received therapy using the Bobath concept, a neurodevelopmental treatment focused on specific handling techniques that guide the patient’s affected arm through initiation and completion of tasks. The intervention consisted of 1 hr of training per day in an outpatient clinic and a 24-hr home program for 10 consecutive weekdays. The second intervention group received CIMT, a rehabilitation treatment focused on repetitive, task-oriented exercises using the patient’s affected arm. The intervention was 3 hr of outpatient training for 10 consecutive weekdays. Additionally, the patients’ affected hand was placed in a protective safety mitt for 90% of their waking hours for 12 consecutive days. Both interventions were carried out by the same physical therapist. Therapy using the Bobath concept and CIMT yielded similar improvements in functional ability, performance time, quality of movement (QOM), and levels of independence in performance of activities of daily living. Although functional outcomes were not significantly different, participants receiving CIMT perceived greater improvements in the amount of use (AOU) and QOM of their affected hand. These findings indicate that occupational therapists may effectively treat high-functioning poststroke patients with either therapy using the Bobath concept or CIMT. However, the limitations that potentially affected the outcomes of this study must be considered. The intervention biases included unequal intervention durations for each group and the physical therapist’s variable proficiency in each intervention, given that the therapist was more familiar with CIMT. These intervention biases limit the reliability of the study. Additionally, the variability in the amount of time between the patient’s stroke and the study increases the probability of confounding variables, which threaten the validity of the study. The small sample size limits the generalizability of the researchers’ findings to the greater poststroke population. Although this study contributes to the evidence supporting therapy using the Bobath concept and CIMT, clinicians cannot look to the outcomes of this study as a recommendation for clinical practice, given the plethora of intervention biases. Rather, through clinical reasoning, clinicians should discern the merit of both treatment approaches and choose the approach that best suits each unique client. Because of the numerous biases, additional research should be done that examines functional arm recovery with therapy using the Bobath concept. Until further research with better construct validity is conducted and a consensus on the most effective treatment for functional hand recovery among highfunctioning poststroke patients is reached, it is up to the clinician to stay current with the literature and to use client-centered, pragmatic reasoning

Multi-Layered Semiconductor Thin Films Arranged in a p/p Z-scheme Tandem Device for Sustainable Water Splitting in the Absence of Sacrificial Reagents

A multi-layered, thin film device mimicking a p/p heterojunction z-scheme electrode has been prepared as a photocatalyst for water splitting. Stacked thin films of doped MIIxFe2-xO3-(x-2) (MII = Zn2+ or Cu2+) and CuIxCd1-xS1-(x/2), referred to as p-Fe2O3 and p-CdS, are deposited onto transparent conductive substrates to act as oxygen and hydrogen evolving catalysts (OEC/HEC), respectively. Prior to addition of the OEC and HEC layers, the substrate surface is modified by addition of an ultrathin film of a metal oxide (MOx) which is functionalized with Au nanoparticles. Afterwards, the HEC is sputtered with Pt. The resulting working electrode is a MOx/Au/p-Fe2O3/p-CdS/Pt composite. Structural, morphological, and electrochemical characterizations have been performed. Under suitable conditions and with proper counter electrodes, these devices may show promise as tandem cells for water splitting without sacrificial reagents