Effectiveness of emotional freedom techniques (EFT) vs sleep hygiene education group therapy (SHE) in management of sleep disorders among elderly

Abstract

Sleep disorders are common among elderly persons, with deleterious effects on their physical and mental health. Many approaches are used to manage such disorders. To compare the Emotional Freedom Techniques–Insomnia (EFT-I) and Sleep Hygiene Education (SHE) group therapy as two treatments for insomnia in a geriatric population when delivered, and their effects on sleep quality, depression, and life satisfaction. This open-label randomized controlled trial study was conducted at El-Abbasia Mental Hospital and Osana family wellness elderly nursing home at Maadi, Cairo. It included 60 elderly patients suffering insomnia sleep problems randomized into two equal groups: one group received a Sleep Hygiene Education (SHE) intervention, the other had a form of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) adapted for use with insomnia (EFT-I). A self-administered questionnaire with tools for sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), depression, and life satisfaction was used to collect data. The fieldwork was from January to March 2021. The two groups had equal median age (70 years), and almost similar gender and place of residence distribution. After the intervention, 73.3% of the EFT group had good sleep quality, compared to 100.0% in the SHE group (P = 0.005); the median score of depression (3.00) was higher in the EFT group compared with 0.00 in the SHE group (P < 0.001); as for life satisfaction, the difference was not statistically significant. The multivariate analyses identified the study intervention as the main statistically significant negative predictor of PSQI and depression scores, and a positive predictor of life satisfaction. Being in the SHE group was a negative predictor of PSQI and depression scores. Both SHE and EFT approaches are beneficial for elderly patients’ sleep quality, with SHE being more effective in ameliorating sleep. Further replication of this study is needed on a large probability sample from different geographical areas to help for the generalization of the results.

Effect of emotional freedom techniques on anxiety, depression and insomnia among COVID-19 patients

“…Supported by several previous studies, EFT can overcome insomnia by doing it periodically [37], [38]. A similar study showed that EFT therapy adapted for insomnia can improve a good sleep quality [39]. This study has several strengths, namely comparing the intervention and control groups, and the intervention was repeated regularly for four times.…”

Comparative efficacy of non‐pharmacological interventions on sleep quality in old adults: A systematic review and network meta‐analysis

“…Souilm et al. (2022) also pointed out that the effect of sleep hygiene therapy is more significant than emotional release technology in improving the sleep quality of older people. In addition, a study in the USA also showed that individuals tend to use sleep hygiene therapy to treat insomnia (Lee et al., 2022).…”

“…The results are similar to those of a systematic evaluation by Shriane et al (2020), who showed that sleep hygiene therapy is by far the most common and effective method for improving sleep quality in individuals. Souilm et al (2022) also pointed out that the effect of sleep hygiene therapy is more significant than emotional release technology in improving the sleep quality of older people.…”

“…Thus, non‐pharmacological interventions are recommended as the first‐line management for sleep disorders in older adults (National Institutes of Health, 2005; Qaseem et al., 2016). However, most RCTs have been compared with usual care, only a few studies have directly compared different non‐pharmacological interventions (Mahajan et al., 2021; Souilm et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2016), and most meta‐analyses have only integrated the same pair of non‐pharmacological interventions (Chen et al., 2021). Some studies have also compared the effects of selected non‐pharmacological interventions on insomnia in older adults through a network meta‐analysis, but their studies only included older adults with insomnia and did not focus on sleep quality in normal older adults or older adults with other sleep disorder problems (Kwon et al., 2020).…”

Clinical EFT as an evidence-based practice for the treatment of psychological and physiological conditions: A systematic review

“…However, a second RCT comparing EFT to SHE found that while both were effective for insomnia, SHE was superior (Souilm et al, 2022). After the intervention, 73.3% of the EFT group had good sleep quality, compared to 100.0% in the SHE group (p = 0.005).…”