JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Approximately one-third of Canadian children have insomnia or symptoms of insomnia, defined as chronic and frequent difficulties with falling and/or staying asleep. Most healthcare providers (HCPs) in Canada do not receive comprehensive formal training in screening, assessment, or management of pediatric insomnia.

Objective:

This study examined the perceived usability of an eLearning professional development program for HCPs, titled Promoting Healthy Sleep (PHS): An eLearning Program for Healthcare Providers. The goal of this program is to provide accessible, online sleep education to HCPs to help inform their screening, assessment, and treatment of pediatric insomnia in children ages 5 to 12.

Methods:

For this usability study, 22 HCPs working in Canada were recruited from 4 groups (i.e., physicians, psychologists, nurses, allied health professionals), and they assessed the usability of the program using the User Experience Honeycomb Framework (Morville and Sullenger, 2010) from the end users’ perspective. Questionnaires that evaluated program usability, satisfaction, and acceptability, as well as participant’s sleep knowledge and sleep attitudes and beliefs were administered.

Results:

HCPs’ sleep knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs significantly improved from pre- to post-program completion, they provided high satisfaction ratings and found the program to be highly useable. They also provided minor suggestions about what content should be revised in the program, such as the need for additional resources and program content suggestions (e.g., modifications to increase user-friendliness, program content suggestions, adding additional resources for HCPs).

Conclusions:

Having HCP training that is accessible will lead to better identification and treatment for school-aged children with insomnia across Canada. Clinical Trial: IWK Ethics Review Board (#1027643)