Sleep health assessment: A scale validation

Sleep health is a new and important concept. Considering the need to expand the research on sleep from the health perspective, this research proposes to validate a Sleep Health Scale (SHS) for use with the Portuguese adult population. A sample of 540 community-dwelling adults aged 18-90 years old was included. The SHS scores ranged from 0 to 30 with a mean of 19.09 (SD +/- 6.49). The distribution indicated that all socio demographic variables (age, gender, and literacy) influenced sleep health. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) demonstrated one factor for this measurement model with poor indices (Chi-square (df) = 55.02(9), p < 0.001). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the single factor and showed a well-adjusted model except for question 5 (Chi-square (df) = 11.443(4), p = 0.022; RMSEA = 0.084; CFI= 0.99; GFI = 0.98; AGFI = 0.94), the convergent validity (AVE = 0.55) and reliability values (alpha = 0.85 /CR = 0.86) were good. In conclusion, the Sleep Health Scale (SHS) is valid and reliable for the assessment of the several sleep health indicators of Portuguese adults. An investigation on the relationship between sleep health and well-being in promoting quality of life with this scale is recommended for future research.