Nursing Practice Today Please cite this article in press as: Sajadi A, Farsi Z, Rajai N. The relationship between sleep quality with fatigue severity and academic performance of nursing students. Nursing Practice Today. 2014; 1(4): Nurs Pract Today. 2014; 1(4): 2-8. Original Article The relationship between sleep quality with fatigue severity and academic performance of nursing students Azam Sajadi 1 , Zahra Farsi 1* , Nahid Rajai 2 1 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Mother and Neonate Health, Faculty of Nursing, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received 9 November 2013 Revised 1 December 2013 Accepted 21 December 2013 Published Available online at: http://npt.tums.ac.ir Background & Aim: Increasing students’ academic stress especially during taking final exams may result in sleep disorders, fatigue poor academic performance and low functional efficiency. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sleep quality with fatigue severity and academic performance of nursing students. Methods & Materials: In a cross-sectional study, the sleep quality and fatigue of nursing students (n=138) of AJA University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran were assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Fatigue Severity Scale within last week of exams of second semester in 2013. Subjects filled demographic questionnaires and the response rate was 86.8%. The data were analyzed using SPSS software with descriptive and analytic statistics including Chi square, Pearson and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients. Results: Sleep quality in 64.4% of students was poor. About 77% of students suffered from fatigue in moderate to severe levels. The mean of total scores of lessens was 16.16. Chi-square test and Pearson correlation coefficient did not indicate significant relationship between sleep quality and age, gender, education semester and educational level, material status, habitancy location, caffeine consuming, smoking, experience of suffering from chronic and psychological diseases, working and also experience of major stress (p>0.05). Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient indicated significant relationship between sleep quality and fatigue severity (p≤0.0000), whereas Pearson correlation coefficient did not show significant relationship between sleep quality and academic performance and also between fatigue severity and academic performance (p>0.05). Conclusion: Prevalence of poor sleep quality and fatigue during final exams in nursing students is high. Considering importance of sleep quality and quantity and its effect on academic performances, creating suitable conditions for observing good sleep quality is suggested. Key words: academic performance, fatigue, nursing, sleep, student Introduction Sleep is one of basic needs of human and has important role in individual’s health and life (1,2). The studies indicate that one-third of adults suffer from sleep disorders and 5% of general population have come up with daily periods of taking nap (3). Mortality rate in people who sleep more than 8.5 hours or less than 3.5 hours at nights is 15% more than people who sleep 7 hours in average ever y night (4). Between 43% to 88% of students of medical sciences suffer from poor sleep quality (3,5-9). In sleep disorder, pattern sleep is disordered (10). This problem can be the result of physical, mental or environmental factors such as age, gender, job, life style, emotional tension and physical environment (11). It seems the students sleep little compared to general population; maybe because of stress and anxiety of studying, (3) being responsible for themselves, new schedules, unfamiliar environment, social obligation, as well as _________________________________________________________ * Corresponding Author: Zahra Farsi, Postal Address: Faculty of Nursing, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Kaj Street, Shariati Street, Tehran, Iran, Email: zahrafarsi@gmail.com