Clinical Research Directory

ROSA-B: ALAN Exposure and Brain Health in Midlife Women With VMS

This randomized, parallel-group study will examine how artificial light exposure during nighttime awakenings affects sleep and brain health in midlife women experiencing vasomotor symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Participants will be randomly assigned to exposure to either typical indoor-intensity light (approximately 100 lux) or dim light (less than 3 lux) during the night. The study will assess the effects of nighttime light exposure on sleep fragmentation, daytime alertness and sleepiness, stress responses, cognitive and emotional functioning, and daily functioning. It will also explore whether sleep fragmentation helps explain the effects of nighttime light exposure on stress and neuropsychological health. The findings may inform strategies to reduce nighttime light exposure and improve sleep and brain health in women during and after the menopause transition.

Effect of Sleep Hygiene Education on Comfort and Sleep Quality in Menopausal Women

The decrease in estrogen levels in the body during menopause can lead to sleep disturbances by disrupting serotonin metabolism, which plays an important role in regular sleep. Considering the increase in life expectancy, the duration of time women will spend in menopause is also increasing, making the understanding of menopause physiology and potential management strategies highly important for women's health. One of the most important factors in managing insomnia is sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene is defined as the principles and practices that improve sleep quality. Additionally, during menopause, using the comfort theory to recognize unmet comfort needs, collecting data on these needs, providing interventions, and ensuring the individual's comfort at the highest level are responsibilities of the nurse. To achieve this, the nurse needs to determine the individual's comfort level before providing care, then assess their physical, psychosocial, sociocultural, and environmental comfort needs as a whole. This research is designed as a randomized pre-test post-test control group study to evaluate the impact of Kolcaba's comfort theory-based sleep hygiene education on comfort behaviors and sleep quality in menopausal women. The research will be conducted between July and December 2024 at Zeynep Kâmil Women's and Children's Diseases Training and Research Hospital, Gynecology Outpatient Clinic, in Istanbul. The study population will consist of menopausal women who visit the Gynecology Outpatient Clinic. The sample will include premenopausal women who meet the inclusion criteria for the study. The sample size in the study was planned to be 60 (intervention group = 30, control group = 30), calculated using the G Power version 3.1 program with α = 0.05, 1-β = 0.95, and effect size = 1.00, considering the possibility of sample loss. Data will be collected using the "Personal Information Form (Appendix-1)", "General Comfort Scale (Appendix-2)", and "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Appendix-3)". The data will be analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software. A total of three sessions will be conducted with each woman, with each session lasting 60 minutes. The intervals between sessions will be arranged as two weeks between the first and second sessions, and eight weeks between the second and third sessions. The first measurement will be taken before the first session, and the final measurement will be taken after the third session.