Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the hospital-acquired insomnia scale (HAIS) and analysis of influencing factors

Abstract Background Adequate sleep and rest are essential for patient recovery; however, lack of sleep has become a common problem faced by Chinese patients during hospital stays. Reduced sleep is often associated with a higher risk of disease progression and is strongly associated with increased hospital stay. However, there is no specific tool in China to assess short-term insomnia caused by hospitalization. This study aimed to translate the Hospital-acquired Insomnia Scale (HAIS) into Chinese, test its applicability to Chinese inpatients through reliability and validity indicators, and investigate the potential influencing factors of hospital-acquired insomnia. Methods Psychometric analysis from a sample of 679 hospitalized patients to whom the HAIS questionnaire was applied. The structural validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the content validity of the scale was assessed using the content validity index. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, split-half reliability and test–retest reliability were calculated to evaluate the internal consistency of the scale. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the potential correlates of hospital-acquired insomnia. Results EFA supported a four-factor structure with factor loadings for all dimensions greater than 0.40. CFA showed good indicators of model fit. The content validity index of the scale was 0.94. the Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was 0.915, the split-half reliability coefficient was 0.819, and the retest reliability was 0.844. Gender, age, total hours of sleep during the night, medical insurance, length of hospital stay, perceived stress level, and perceptions about sleep explained 46.2% of the variance in hospital-acquired insomnia. Conclusion The Chinese version of HAIS has good psychometric characteristics and is an effective instrument for evaluating hospital-acquired insomnia. In addition, hospital-acquired insomnia is more common in women, of younger age, less than 5 h of sleep a night, without medical insurance, stressed, and patients with more misconceptions about sleep.