ABSTRACT Oulu University of Applied Sciences School of Health and Social Care Oulainen Option of Nursing ______________________________________________________________________ Authors: Leena Kukko and Anniina Myllymäki Title of thesis: 10-12-year-old Children´s Experiences of Going to Bed and Falling Asleep Supervisors: Liisa Kiviniemi and Merja Männistö Term and year when the thesis was submitted: Spring 2011 Number of pages: 36 + 7appendices ______________________________________________________________________ The purpose of our study is to identify and describe children’s experiences of going to bed and falling asleep and also to find out disruptive things in bed time. We had the idea for our study when we had an internship in school health care. Many pupils in the fifth grade reported in health controls that they have sleep problems. Our thesis is a qualitative research and we implemented it by interviewing seven 10-12 year olds children and two school nurses. We used a thematic interview method and analyzed the data by using inductive content analysis.

The study results showed that going to bed raises mostly positive feelings in children. The children experienced entertainment electronics, hobbies, school and family relationships issues as disturbing factors when going to bed. Weekends and holidays also confused easily the daily rhythms. Children experienced that problems in family relationships and friendships, homework and various fears, worries and pains make it harder to fall asleep. The interviews also revealed that children do not necessarily talk about sleeprelated issues to anyone. According to the school nurses´ perception the emerging problems are already welladvanced. On the other hand, the school nurses perception was that children’s serious problems related to sleep are rare. They think that the normal stages of child development have phases when going to bed and falling asleep may become more difficult. ______________________________________________________________________ Keywords: 10-12-year-old child, falling asleep, going to bed