Background Sleep quality is an important factor affecting soldiers' work ability and military capability.

Objective This study investigates the relationship among sleep quality, burnout, and occupational stress of soldiers in special working environment.

Methods A total of 886 soldiers from three troops in special working environment were selected from March to December 2019 and invited to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), and Occupational Stress Scale (OSS). Correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were performed.

Results Of the 886 questionnaires distributed, 797 valid copies were returned, and the valid recovery rate was 89.9%. The median (P₂₅, P₇₅) score of PSQI was 3.50 (2.50, 5.50), the score of OSS was 25.00 (17.00, 33.00), and the score of MBI-GS was 3.45 (3.07, 3.88). There were not significant differences in PSQI, OSS, and MBI-GS between males and females (P>0.05), but there were significant differences among different age and education groups (P < 0.05). The sleep quality of the soldiers had a positive correlation with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, decreased sense of accomplishment, and occupational stress (r=0.506, 0.387, 0.278, and 0.634, P < 0.01), respectively. The soldiers with sleep disorder showed higher levels of burnout and occupational stress than those without (P < 0.01). Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, decreased sense of accomplishment, and occupational stress were effective predictors for sleep quality, accounting for 44.1% of variance.

Conclusion The sleep quality of soldiers in special working environment is closely related with burnout and occupational stress. Efforts in lowering burnout and occupational stress may help improve the sleep quality of soldiers.