Introduction

Obviously, we all need to sleep. Our well-being is related to the quality of our sleep. Therefore, sleep questionnaires are often used in psychology and medicine. The Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire is a commonly used tool to determine the effects of drugs on sleep.

The author Andrew Parrott is currently at the University of Swansea (in Wales, UK) is now a known authority in the field of the drug ecstacy. Watch an interesting interview with him here.

The original questionnaire was on paper and the instruction was: "Each question is answered by placing a vertical mark on the answer line. If no change was experi- enced then place your mark in the middle of the line. If a change was experienced then the position of your mark will indicate the nature and extent of the change, i.e. large changes near the ends of the line, small changes near the middle."

Scoring for each question is on a scale from 0 to 100. The four subscales are as follows:

  • The ease of getting to sleep (GTS), questions 1-3

  • The perceived quality of sleep (QOS), questions 4-5

  • The easy of awakening from sleep (AFS), questions 6-7

  • The integrity of behaviour following wakefulness (BFW), questions, 8-10

Run the demo

It seems that the Leeds SEQ can be used for research, but you need to acknowledge the authors and their research paper when writing about it (References).

Technically

We use the range scale. The original was a paper and pencil questionnaire.

The survey code for PsyToolkit

Copy and paste this code to your PsyToolkit account if you want to use the scale in your own online research project
l: GTS
t: range
q: How would you compare *getting to sleep* using the medication with getting to sleep normally, i.e. without medication?
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=harder than usual,right=easier than usual,no_number}
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=slower than usual,right=quicker than usual,no_number}
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=felt less drowsy than usual,right=felt more drowsy than usual,no_number}

l: QOS
t: range
q: How would you compare the *quality of sleep* using the medication with non-medicated (your usual) sleep
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=more restless than usual,right=more restful than usual,no_number}
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=more periods of wakefulness than usual,right=fewer periods of wakefulness than usual,no_number}

l: AFS
t: range
q: How did your awakening after medication compare
with your usual pattern of awakening?
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=more difficult than usual,right=easier than usual,no_number}
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=took longer than usual,right=took shorter than usual,no_number}

page: begin

l: BFW1
t: range
q: How did you feel on waking?
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=tired,right=alert,no_number}

l: BFW2
t: range
q: How did you feel now?
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=tired,right=alert,no_number}

l: BFW3
t: range
q: How was your sense of balance and coordination upon getting up?
- {min=0,max=100,start=50,left=more clumsy than usual,right=less clumsy than usual,no_number}

page: end

l: GTSscore
t: set
- mean $GTS.1 $GTS.2 $GTS.3

l: QOSscore
t: set
- mean $QOS.1 $QOS.2

l: AFSscore
t: set
- mean $AFS.1 $AFS.2

l: BFWscore
t: set
- mean $BFW1 $BFW2 $BFW3

l: feedback
t: info
q: Your Leeds Sleep Evaluation Scores for each of the four subscales:
Getting to sleep: {$GTSscore}
Quality of sleep: {$QOSscore}
Ease of awaking from sleep: {$AFSscore}
Integrity of behavior following wakefulness: {$BFWscore}

References

  • Parrott, A.C. & Hindmarch, I. (1978). Factor analysis of a sleep evaluation questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 8, 325-329. LINK

  • Parrott, A.C. & Hindmarch, I. (1980). The Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire in Psychopharmacological Investigations — a Review. Psychopharmacology, 71, 173-179. LINK