The Correlation between Digital Device Usage Patterns and Sleep Quality Among Psychiatric Inpatients in the Pakistan Institute of Mental Health

Abstract

Psychiatric inpatients experience common disturbances in their sleep patterns, which negatively affect their treatment response, together with their clinical mental state. The digital age demonstrates a connection between extensive, uncontrolled digital device use throughout evenings and sleep disturbances among users. Research performed in this field is scarce because it investigates this relationship specifically among psychiatric patients who are hospitalized. The study investigated whether psychiatric patients from a tertiary hospital showed any relationship between their digital device habits and sleep quality. This investigation used a quantitative correlational research approach. For this study, 150 adult psychiatric inpatients aged 18–65 were chosen through purposive sampling. The research employed two standardized tools for data collection. The researchers implemented two assessment tools to understand participants' digital device behavior: the Digital Device Usage Questionnaire (DDUQ) for tracking screen duration and content preferences, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep evaluation during the recent month. Demographic information was also gathered. A Pearson's correlation test on SPSS version 26 analyzed digital use variables and sleep quality scores. Results established a strong connection between total screen use and bad sleep outcomes (r = 0.48, p < 0.001). A positive relationship emerged between using digital devices in the evening and social media use and sleep problems (r = 0.41, p = 0.002, and r = 0.37, p = 0.005). Using educational digital content generated a weak negative relationship because r = -0.18 and p = 0.042. Research demonstrates the requirement of defined guidelines that control digital technology use during psychiatric inpatient care to enhance patients' sleep quality and recovery processes.