The Experiences of Sleep Disruption in Families of Technology-Dependent Children Living at Home

This paper examines the sleep disruption experienced by 36 families of technology-dependent children living at home in the United Kingdom. The paper begins with an overview of the qualitative study in which parents' experiences of sleep disruption emerged as a major theme. We then describe the nature of and reasons for the sleep disruption, the help families received with care overnight, and the effects of sleep disruption on parents in particular. This is followed by discussion of the implications of the findings for policy and practice as well as future research.