JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Infant and child sleep problems are common across cultures, affecting about 20% of children under 4 years old in Norway. Sleep problems can persist if left untreated and are associated with various negative outcomes for both children and parents. Despite the potential benefits of psychosocial and behavioral sleep interventions, access to and awareness of these interventions remain limited. The Internet represents a promising platform for disseminating evidence-based interventions.

Objective:

This study aimed to test and optimize core prototypes for an internet- and mobile-based intervention, Sleep Well, Little Sweetheart!, using the Youwell platform as a testbed. We examined the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and usability of four prototypes: sleep assessment, parent emotion-regulation, behavioral sleep intervention, and altering nighttime feeding.

Methods:

We employed a triangulation design using the validating quantitative data model in a mixed methods approach for the prototype evaluation. A total of 104 participants signed up for prototype testing, of which 72 (69%) were parents and 32 (31%) were public health nurses or volunteers. Acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility were assessed using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure, Intervention Appropriateness Measure, and Feasibility of Intervention Measure, while usability was assessed using the System Usability Scale. Parents and public health nurses/volunteers were asked to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each prototype using four qualitative, open-ended survey questions.

Results:

Testing of the prototypes highlighted their general acceptance, feasibility, appropriateness, and usability, as observed by both scores and participants’ qualitative feedback. Predominant themes that emerged from the qualitative data included Communication, Expansion, Relevance and Utility, and User-Friendliness. Although mean acceptance, feasibility, and usability scores were high across all prototypes, quantitative data revealed some differences among participants. Parents rated the feasibility of the sleep plan lower than public health nurses/volunteers, and the mindfulness prototype had the lowest usability score.

Conclusions:

The evaluation indicates that the prototypes for addressing early childhood sleep problems were acceptable, feasible, and usable among parents and public health nurses/volunteers. These findings support the potential of digital platforms to improve access to evidence-based interventions and address a significant public health need. Future work will involve testing these prototypes as part of a comprehensive intervention package in real-world clinical settings and conducting clinical trials to evaluate the interventions’ effectiveness.