Adolescent children's experiences and perceptions of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders

Abstract

This is a qualitative descriptive study of adolescent children’s experiences and perceptions of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, which have never before been discussed, as revealed through their own comments. Data was collected using a phenomenological approach involving fieldwork and unstructured interviews. This is a qualitative descriptive study of adolescent children’s experiences and perceptions of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, which have never before been discussed, as revealed through their own comments. Data was collected using a phenomenological approach involving fieldwork and unstructured interviews. In total, fieldwork was conducted 35 times, and interviews were conducted with four people. Nine adolescent children between the ages of 13 and 19 participated in the study, and the five distinctive experiences below were described: (1) “Do you sleep well? Everyone else seems fine.” (2) “When you were in elementary school, you were able to go to sleep and wake up with no problems. ” (3) “Nobody explains anything to me at all. Basically, nobody tells me anything.”  (4) “Even when I’m mentally sleepy, my body is still wide awake.” (5) “Everyone finds it hard to get up in the morning. You just don’t get out of bed.”  Two treatment issues were identified from the experiences described by the adolescents with circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders: (1) they are unable to accept that they are the only ones with a circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder, and (2) they feel isolated because their families suspect that they have a disorder. As suggestions for how to care for such individuals, medical personnel should provide information on how to deal with the disorder as a physical predisposition and should be involved in a way that ensures that the adolescent children remain the focus of treatment. Findings also suggest the need to ease the feelings of isolation experienced by the children due to others suspecting them of having a disorder, and to adjust family relationships when necessary.