Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jul 27, 2023
Date Accepted: Apr 29, 2024
A person-based web-based sleep intervention aimed at adolescents (SleepWise): A randomized controlled feasibility study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Adolescents are advised to sleep for 8 to 10 hours per night; however, most adolescents do not sleep for this recommended amount. Poor adolescent sleep is associated with detrimental health outcomes, including reduced physical activity, risk-taking behaviors, and increased levels of depression and anxiety, making this a fundamental public health concern. Existing interventions targeting adolescent sleep are often unsuccessful or their effectiveness unclear, as they are frequently non-interactive, do not address age-specific needs, are time-consuming and lack a strong theoretical foundation.
Objective:
The main goal of this study was to understand the acceptability and feasibility of a web-based sleep intervention (SleepWise) aimed at adolescents.
Methods:
A feasibility trial was conducted to test the feasibility and acceptability of a web-based sleep intervention, called SleepWise, developed based on the Person-Based Approach to intervention development. Ninety participants (aged 13 to 17) from Further Education institutions and secondary schools were recruited to two, 2-arm randomized controlled trials. One trial (Trial 1) included incentives to understand the impact of participant incentives on engagement with the intervention.
Results:
Participants reported high levels of acceptability across both trials (Trial 1 M 21.00 (2.74); Trial 2 M 20.82 (2.48)) and found SleepWise to be an engaging and suitable sleep programme for their age group. Both trials demonstrated a significant improvement in sleep quality scores for the intervention, as opposed to control groups, with a medium (Trial 1) and large (Trial 2) effect size. A larger effect size for improvement in sleep quality was found in the non-incentivized trial (d = .87), suggesting that incentivization may not impact engagement and/or sleep quality outcomes. Overall, findings suggest that SleepWise is potentially efficacious and could feasibly be taken forward into a definitive main trial.
Conclusions:
SleepWise is a pragmatic solution to an important public health concern, and an acceptable and potentially efficacious web-based intervention to improve adolescent sleep. Clinical Trial: N/A as the study was a feasibility trial however, registration is available on the Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/YANB2
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