JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Sleep procrastination is a prevalent and detrimental behavior among university students. While digital interventions offer scalable solutions, they often lack a robust theoretical foundation and fail to differentiate from clinical insomnia treatments.

Objective:

This pilot study examined the feasibility and preliminary effects of a novel intervention grounded in the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model. We compared online delivery with traditional offline delivery and a control group in reducing sleep procrastination.

Methods:

Forty-six students with high sleep procrastination were allocated to an online intervention (n=16), an offline group intervention (n=16), or a waitlist control group (n=14). The 8-week intervention targeted core I-PACE components. Both subjective and objective (wearable fitness bands) measures were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and a 2-month follow-up.

Results:

Both intervention groups reported reduced sleep procrastination post-intervention. Critically, only the online group maintained improvement at follow-up, supported by objective data. Specifically, the online group uniquely exhibited a "zero threshold" phenomenon, with average sleep delay shifting to a negative value (-0.05 hours) in Week 7, indicating they went to sleep earlier than planned and significantly earlier than both comparison groups (p < .05). This advantage in earlier sleep onset remained significant at the two-month follow-up (p = .025).

Conclusions:

This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that app-based, I-PACE-grounded interventions may represent a promising and scalable approach for sleep procrastination. The online format's advantage may stem from an autonomy-supportive design that fosters intrinsic motivation, highlighting the value of theory-driven digital tools for promoting sustainable behavioral health in non-clinical populations.