Age-related change in the sleep quality of women in aged-care is a key area in
gender and ageing research. Not only does the structure of sleep change with
age, but so too do the perceptions and beliefs around sleep, and the sleep
management strategies available to women. Surprisingly however, the essence
of the sleep beliefs and self-management strategies of women in aged-care
remains largely unexplored. What is clear, is that this essence is not
sufficiently captured by current clinical measures, reflecting the notion that
sleep researchers and elderly women hold discordant beliefs regarding sleep
quality. In order to address that disjuncture, this mixed methods study aimed
to investigate a) the meanings of good and poor sleep quality for elderly
women in aged-care, and b) women's self-management of sleep quality.