The relationship between psychological distress and sleep quality among community-dwelling older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Covid-19 pandemic is considered one of the worst pandemics that affected older adults. With ageing, the higher possibility of living alone and lower psychological resilience become worse due to the state of lockdown and the infection control precautions imposed by international and national authorities to prevent the spread of infection. All these circumstances may lead to psychological distress, anxiety, and depression, which have negative effects on sleep quality among older adults. Aim: To identify the relationship between psychological distress and sleep quality among community-dwelling older adults during covid-19 pandemic. Settings: Four Alexandria post offices which are affiliated with Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology were included. Subjects: Convenient samples of 230 older adults were recruited. Tools: Five tools were used for data collection as follows: Tool I: Older adult`s socio-demographic and health profile structured interview schedule, Tool II: Kessler psychological distress scale (k10), Tool III: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Tool IV: Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), and Tool V: Geriatric Depression Scale shortened form (GDS-SF).Results: While 40.9% of the study subjects reported well psychological status, 59.1% suffered from different degrees of psychological distress, either mild 30.4%, moderate 16.5%, or severe 12.2% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, 78.7% of the study subjects were bad sleepers, while 21.3% were good sleepers, with a mean percent score of 38.90 ± 19.94. Concerning COVID-19-related anxiety, the highest percentage 92.2% of the study subjects reported low dysfunctional coronavirus-related anxiety, with a total mean percent score of 18.91± 16.51. Concerning levels of depression among the study subjects, 64.8% of them reported, either mild depression 29.1%, moderate depression 20.9 %, or severe depression 14.8%, with a mean percent score of 45.16 ± 26.23. Conclusion: Higher levels of psychological distress, COVID-19-related anxiety, and depression were significantly associated with higher sleep problems among community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations: Gerontological nurses should use valid tools to assess psychological distress, anxiety, and depression among older adults to identify those who are at higher risk of developing psychological disorders. Sleep patterns should be monitored continuously by gerontological nurses to determine those who are bad sleepers and implement measures to enhance sleep quality among older adults, especially among those who have psychological distress.