Development and validation of a screening tool for identifying hospitalized patients with disturbed sleep – a cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12923/pielxxiw-2026-0042Keywords:
confirmatory factor analysis, sleep quality, hospitalized patient, sleep screening, Richards-Campbell Sleep QuestionnaireAbstract
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A SCREENING TOOL FOR IDENTIFYING HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS WITH DISTURBED SLEEP – A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Aim. The study aimed to develop and validate a screening tool for early identification of hospitalized patients at increased risk for sleep disturbance.
Material and methods. Multicenter cross-sectional study included 158 patients hospitalized in general wards at six hospitals in the Czech Republic. The Hospital Sleep Screening Tool (HSST) was developed to identify patients at increased risk of sleep disturbance. The convergent validity of the HSST was assessed by examining its association with the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ Predictors of sleep quality were analyzed using an OPLS model, and the diagnostic accuracy and validity of the tool were evaluated by appropriate testing.
Results. The strongest predictors of poor sleep quality were previous sleep problems, anxiety or tension, the use of hypnotics and pain intensity ≥ 3. The model explained 60.8% of sleep quality variability. The tool showed good discriminatory ability (cut-off 5; AUC 0.82), and higher scores were associated with poorer RCSQ sleep quality, supporting its construct and convergent validity.
Conclusions. Sleep quality in hospitalized patients is influenced by identifiable subjective, psychological and somatic factors. The nine-item Hospital Sleep Screening Tool showed good validity and effective discriminatory ability for identifying patients at risk of sleep disturbance.
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