Sleep quality of students during final examsin Zanjan University of Medical Sciences

Sleep is a major and important part of human’s life. There is a significant relationship between sleep quality and occupational and intellectual performance of students as key segment6s of the society. Sleep deprivation can affect the educational status of students. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the sleep quality of students in Nursing-Midwifery and health faculties of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. This descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted in the Nursing- Midwifery and Health Colleges of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2009. After receiving informed written consent, using simple randomized sampling 162 students were included in the study. The demographic and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaires were used to assess the demographic and sleep quality of the samples. The obtained data was analyzed by means of SPSS software (version 11.5), descriptive statistics, frequency table, chi square, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Mean age of the students was 20.62. Eight percent of the participants 8% were females and 43.2% males. 13.6% of all had satisfactory sleep quality and the rest (86.4%) had poor sleep quality. 54.3% were sleepy during the day that was related to poor sleep quality (P=0.001). Poor sleep quality was 82.9% and 89.1% in males and females, respectively; and there was no significant relationship between sleep quality and gender (P=0.2). Most of the students had poor sleep quality. Regarding the relationship between sleep quality and educational-professional performance of students it is necessary to improve the awareness and knowledge of them about sleep hygiene and also to provide suitable conditions in order for them to have effective healthy sleep especially during finals are vitally suggested.