0332 Descriptive Study of Sleep Patterns and Knowledge Among Department of Juvenile Services Staff

Abstract Introduction While research exists on adolescent sleep health in the US juvenile justice system, little is known about the sleep health of the staff that care for them. Poor sleep health, which is associated with negative mental and physical outcomes, may impact the daily interactions between staff and detained youth. The current study explored sleep-wake patterns and sleep health knowledge of DJS staff in Maryland. Methods Department of Juvenile Services Staff (N=218) were invited to respond to a survey that queried staff on their knowledge of adolescent sleep needs, job role and schedule, and their own sleep-wake patterns. Descriptive analyses and multivariate analyses of variance (MANCOVA) were conducted to review the staff’s sleep-wake patterns across the existing staff positions and schedules. Results Of the DJS staff, 51% served as residential advisors (RAs) who directly supervise youth. Just over half (55%) of staff worked in detention, with the remaining 45% in treatment facilities. Staff reported sleeping 7.24 hours (SD=4.10) on workdays and 8.59 hours (SD=2.69) on non-workdays. Working the night/rotating versus day shifts was significantly associated with reports of greater weekday versus weekend irregularity and oversleep (p=.005), as well as sleepiness during work hours (p’s< .05). Regarding adolescent sleep health knowledge, slightly more than half of the staff (53.9%) were knowledgeable with differences by position type. Specifically, night/rotating RAs and dayshift non-RAs were more likely to agree that sleep disturbances are tied to increased delinquency (41%; 27%) and that adolescent need ranges from 8-10 hours a night (41%; 27%). Conclusion Findings demonstrate that DJS staff meet the recommended sleep duration guidelines, however, RA staff experience irregularities in sleep schedule timing and time in bed. The observed staff variability in sleep health knowledge may provide impetus for staff sleep educational programming for staff, especially those who hold non-RA positions. Overall, this study may inform future development and prioritization of sleep and circadian health supports and resources, with the goal of improving sleep conditions for both the detained youth and DJS staff. These sleep health alterations may even have downstream effects in terms of improving relationships between staff and detained youth. Support (if any) N/A