Abstract
Introduction: The creation of culturally relevant questionnaires is an important step towards decolonizing research methodologies to ensure that they are appropriate for use in diverse populations. Our team aimed to develop and test a new questionnaire about sleep, wellbeing and whānau connection for use in Aotearoa whānau with 0-2 year old infants.
Methods: Our ethnically diverse research team co-designed with relevant communities a new 56-item questionnaire. Some items were adapted from existing questionnaires, with others newly developed through a Māori worldview. The new questionnaire was disseminated online for testing by caregivers of 0-2 year old children. Quantitative and qualitative findings about, and associations between three dimensions of children’s sleep health and caregiver and whānau wellbeing and connection, were examined to determine their acceptability as key outcome measurements for an upcoming trial.
Results: 957 caregivers completed the new questionnaire. Small, yet consistent positive associations were observed between children’s sleep quality, and caregivers’ perceptions of children’s sleep, and caregiver wellbeing, whānau wellbeing, and connection. Conversely, children’s nocturnal sleep duration was not related to caregiver or whānau wellbeing or connection. Only 14% of caregivers found questions about their perception of their children’s sleep difficult to answer. Qualitative feedback indicated that questions about wellbeing and connection were culturally relevant and acceptable to diverse whānau.
Discussion: Caregiver perception of children’s sleep, children’s sleep quality, caregiver wellbeing, whānau wellbeing and connection can be measured in a culturally relevant manner when a collaborative team work together to create, and consciously decolonize, new and existing questionnaire items.