Effects of sleep quality on self-harm ideation among elder abuse survivors: the moderating role of community social support

This study explored the relationship between poor sleep quality, community social support and self-harm ideation among elder abuse survivors. We recruited 1,286 participants from eight Grade-A hospitals in China. Objective sleep quality was measured with the SenseWear Pro3 Armband, subjective sleep quality with the 5-item Consensus Sleep Diary, and overall sleep quality (OSQ) with the 19-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Self-harm ideation was assessed using a single item from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and community social support with a five-item scale to categorize participants into low or high support groups. Results indicated that longer sleep duration and greater subjective sleep efficiency were associated with a decreased risk of self-harm ideation. However, poor OSQ was associated with an increased risk of self-harm ideation, and this effect was mitigated by higher community social support. Findings suggest that community social support buffered the negative effect of poor overall sleep quality on self-harm ideation.