Association between sleep and quality of life in heart failure patient–caregiver dyads and mediation of fatigue: An actor–partner interdependence mediation model

Abstract Aims Quality of life is essential to heart failure patients and their family caregivers. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of fatigue in the association between sleep and quality of life in heart failure patient–caregiver dyads. Design A cross‐sectional descriptive study was conducted from November 2017 to August 2018. Methods A total of 269 heart failure patient–caregiver dyads at two hospitals in China were included. The Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Chalder Fatigue Scale and the 12‐item Short‐Form Health Survey were used to collect data on heart failure patients and their family caregivers. The structural equation model was employed in the dyadic analysis based on the actor–partner interdependence mediation model. Results Regarding the actor effects, poor sleep was negatively associated with physical and mental quality of life in heart failure patients and their family caregivers, respectively, and the relationship was mediated by their fatigue. Regarding the partner effects, caregivers' fatigue was positively associated with patients' physical quality of life and mediated the association between caregivers' sleep and patients' physical quality of life. Conclusions Heart failure patients and their family caregivers experience reduced quality of life when they have poor sleep and fatigue, and caregivers' fatigue is related to patients' improved physical quality of life. Hence, dyadic interventions targeting to improving sleep and fatigue may be beneficial to their quality of life. Impact This study highlights the importance of routinely measuring and managing sleep and fatigue for heart failure patients and their family caregivers. Effective dyadic‐based interventions that maintain equal attention to family caregivers should be considered by healthcare providers to maximize the improvement of patients' quality of life.