Shift work is associated with worse sleep, mental and physical health, and psychosocial outcomes and is considered a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization. While shift work is common, it does not always result in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5)–defined shift work sleep disorder (SWD).
Taylor et al recently published an article in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine which reports on the reliability and validity of the DSM-5 informed Shift Work Disorder Index (SWDI), the presence of probable SWD in nurses, and demographic, sleep, and psychosocial correlates.
Over 450 nurses participated in this study. The global SWDI demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = .94), as well as good convergent and divergent validity in the nurse sample. Thirty-one percent of nurses were past-month shift workers, with 14% (ie, 44% of shift workers) having probable SWD based on SWDI. Shift work and/or SWD were prevalent and associated with worse sleep and psychosocial health, particularly among nurses with probable SWD.
CITATION:
Taylor DJ, Dietch JR, Wardle-Pinkston S, et al. Shift Work Disorder Index: initial validation and psychosocial associations in a sample of nurses. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(10):2339–2351.
