Protecting Healthcare Workers' Health and Well-being: The Joint Effects of Sleep and Pain, and Moderations by Work Characteristics

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The relationship between sleep and pain is often described as a vicious cycle, such that poor sleep health and pain cause and exacerbate one another. There is evidence that sleep and pain share the same underlying mechanisms involving serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine pathways. While most research to date has focused on the individual effects of sleep or pain on health, the current study proposes to shift this paradigm to study the joint effects of poor sleep and pain among an at-risk group, healthcare workers (HCWs). HCWs are uniquely suited as the focus of this research question because apart from clinical populations (e.g., those with chronic pain or insomnia), HCWs are at greater risk of poorer sleep and pain compared to the general population. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated HCWs' feelings of burden and burnout, as well as brought more attention to these timely issues of the health and well-being among HCWs. Earlier work has found that HCWs experience shorter sleep duration, poorer sleep quality, work-related pain, and the spontaneous onset of pain. There is evidence that sleep and pain have a bidirectional relationship. In Aim 1, the proposed study will examine the joint effects of poor sleep health and pain, and how this negative synergy affects physical, mental, and cognitive health and well-being. Given the ample research studying the moderating effects of work characteristics, Aim 2 will investigate whether job demands and resources moderate the relationship between the joint effects of sleep and pain on health outcomes. These aims will be examined cross-sectionally and over time using survey and micro-longitudinal data (collected daily over 8 days), respectively. In total, data from three separate datasets will be used (n=2,154 HCWs; 5,892 non-HCWs). The central hypothesis is that the joint effects of sleep and pain will be more prevalent among HCWs compared to non-HCWs, and that the joint effects will account for more variance than the single individual effects of sleep and pain. Greater pain reactivity to poor sleep will be associated with more chronic conditions, more negative affect and less positive affect, more depressive symptoms, and lower cognitive functioning. The second hypothesis is that greater job demands and fewer job resources will exacerbate the joint effects of poor sleep and pain. Findings may help inform future workplace interventions and policies to mitigate the harmful effects of poor sleep and pain among HCWs. The proposed training site and team are well equipped to provide the necessary resources to address these aims. Upon completing this project, the PI will acquire the theoretical and statistical knowledge to study the joint effects of sleep and pain among other at-risk groups like older adults. The study team will disseminate their findings by publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts, presenting at conferences, and contributing to the development of pilot interventions to mitigate the joint effects of sleep and pain for all.