Sleep, mental health, and access to health care of women truck drivers

This article reports on a study undertaken to characterize chronic stress, sleep, and mental health services and overall access to health care among women truck drivers. The study included 25 female truck drivers who completed a 59-item online survey that asked questions about demographics, acute sleepiness, sleep propensity, sleep quality and quantity, posttraumatic stress disorder, health care access, and utilization of health services for mental health issues. This sample was a subset of a larger study on truck drivers. In this subset, results showed no acute sleepiness or excess daytime sleepiness, but participants report only sleeping 6 hours per night, and all experienced poor sleep quality. Although 28% of participants met or exceeded the threshold score for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), only 8% sought care for feelings of upset or distress. Utilization of mental health and physical health services was low, even though 80% of the women had health insurance. The authors content that many of the female truck drivers did not seek care because of job-related conflicts. The authors conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of their research including strategies for improving health care access for all truck drivers and a call for future studies of this subset of truck drivers.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000970
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/23276924
• Authors:
  • Heaton, Karen
  • Kham-Ai, Prasert
  • Shattell, Mona
• Publication Date: 2024

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 38-45
• Serial:
  • Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners
  • Volume: 36
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc
  • ISSN: 2327-6924
  • EISSN: 2327-6886
  • Serial URL: https://journals.lww.com/jaanp/pages/default.aspx

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Females; Health care services; Mental condition; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Psychological stress; Sleep; Truck drivers
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01912497
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 20 2024 10:11AM