effect of a nurse-led cognitive-behavioral therapy on sleep quality in patients undergoing open heart surgery: a prospective randomized clinical trial

Background: sleep disorders are one of the most common complications in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. cognitive-behavioral therapy (cbt-i) is used as a way to improve sleep quality. objectives: this study aimed to determine the effect of a nurse-led cbt-i on sleep quality among patients undergoing open-heart surgery. methods: this prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted on 90 patients undergoing open-heart surgery in both intervention and control groups (n = 45). the control group received routine care. the intervention group received 10-12 sessions of nurse-led cbt-i. the demographic questionnaire and the pittsburgh sleep quality index (psqi) were used to collect data. the data was analyzed in spss v. 22 software using x2, independent sample t-test, analysis of covariance (ancova), and paired t-test. results: the majority of samples were in the age range of 31 - 40 years (33.33%) and male (53.33%). the results of the independent t-test showed that the mean total psqi score in the 2 groups before the intervention was not significantly different (p = 0.245). also, the results of ancova showed that the mean total psqi score after the intervention has a significant difference in the 2 groups (p = 0.0001). conclusions: nurse-led cbt-i intervention helps to improve the sleep quality of patients after open-heart surgery by reducing their automatic thoughts that affect behavior. thus, it is recommended that training in nurse-led cbt-i be included in the nurses' academic training program, as well as in continuing education programs for nurses working in heart surgery wards.