This descriptive research was undertaken to explore sleep quality among university students and related factors. The sample consisted of 300 students from universities in southern Thailand selected through a multistage, random sampling technique. The data were obtained through self–completed questionnaires including personal data, health, and sleep hygiene questionnaires, the Suanprung Stress Test, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores indicated that 73.6% of the subjects had poor sleep quality, almost half of the subjects (45.3%) perceived their health status as moderate to good, and 66% had a mild to a moderate level of stress. Their sleep hygiene was at a moderate level. The factors related to sleep quality in the stepwise multiple regression model included sleep hygiene, perceived health status and stress. These three factors together explained 27% of the variance of sleep quality. Sleep hygiene, perceived health status and stress explained 15, 7 and 5% respectively of the variance of the sleep quality.
The findings indicate a need to promote sleep quality among university students through improvement of sleep hygiene, reduction of stress and promotion of health.