Sleep Patterns of Premedical Undergraduate Students: Pilot Study and Protocol Evaluation (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Poor sleep hygiene persists in college students today, despite its heavy implications in adolescent development and academic performance. While previous literature has explored sleep patterns in undergraduates at a broad scale, no studies have exclusively assessed undergraduate medical students or pre-medicine (pre-med) college students. A gap also exists in knowledge of how students perceive their sleep patterns compared to their actual patterns. OBJECTIVE This study aims to address two research questions (RQs). What are the sleep patterns of pre-med college students (RQ1)? Would the proposed study protocol be feasible to examine the perception of sleep quality and promote sleep behavioral changes in pre-med college students (RQ2)? METHODS To analyze RQ1, a survey was conducted on pre-med students in a medical science baccalaureate program in a research one university in the Midwest United States to investigate their sleep habits and understand their demographics. To examine RQ2, five students were recruited from the survey pool to evaluate feasibility of the proposed protocol in addressing perception of sleep quality and changes. RESULTS Based on the 103 survey responses, pre-med students slept an average of 7.1 hours per night. A quarter of the participants had a poor sleep quality (PSQI≥5), although there was with no significant differences in proportions of Good (PSQI≥5) vs. Poor sleepers across cohorts. When students perceived no problem at all in their sleep quality, 50% were defined as having poor sleep quality. A larger proportion of students who perceived sleep quality as only a slight problem, still had 25% students presenting poor sleep quality. High stress levels were generally associated with poor sleep quality. The protocol evaluation revealed Fitbit as a beneficial tool in raising sleep awareness. Participants highlighted Fitbit elements that aid in comprehension, as well as room for improvement in the protocol. CONCLUSIONS Poor sleep quality experienced by unaware pre-med students points to a need to raise sleep awareness and develop effective interventions. Future work should refine the study protocol based on lessons learned and health behavior theories and use Fitbit as an informatics solution to promote healthy sleep behaviors.