In a context of seeking a better balance between personal and professional life and labor shortages, the use of 12-hour alternating day-night shifts has become more common in work organizations, particularly in healthcare facilities. This work pattern combines exposure to alternating day and night shifts with long working hours, raising questions about its effects on health, particularly sleep quality and cardiovascular risk. Staff working alternating day/night or night shifts are at risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly in connection with sleep deprivation and the adoption of individual behaviors that increase the risk (smoking, poor diet, alcohol consumption, smoking and low physical activity). However sleep education is not integrated in a personalized way into the prevention advice provided by occupational health services.
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of a 6-month sleep education program conducted by occupational health nursing staff, on the sleep duration of healthcare workers newly exposed to alternating 12-hour day and night shifts.
Being a paramedical caregiverr (nurse or care assistant)
Working 12-hour shifts (day/night)
Working at least 80% of a full-time equivalent post
Staff employed at a hospital listed among the investigating centers
Nursing staff and nursing assistants who have been exposed for more than six months to alternating 12-hour shifts or atypical working hours (two eight-hour shifts, three eight-hour shifts or night shifts) during their professional career
Nursing staff and nursing assistants with a history of mental illness or who are taking medication that affects alertness (psychotropic drugs)
Pregnant or breastfeeding women
Nursing staff or nursing assistants with sleep apnea syndrome, central hypersomnolence disorders, severe parasomnias, severe untreated restless legs syndrome