Effects of the Young Adolescent Sleep Smart Program on sleep hygiene practices, sleep health efficacy, and behavioral well-being

Abstract

Objectives Using a social learning model, the aim of the Sleep Smart Program was to primarily improve sleep health behaviors and secondarily improve academic performance and behavioral well-being. Design Randomized control trial for a social learning-based preventive intervention program. Participants A diverse group of seventh graders from 2 urban, middle schools were randomly assigned, according to school, to an 8-session Sleep Smart Program (SS = 70) or a comparison group (comparison = 73). Measurements Sleep patterns, sleep hygiene, and sleep health efficacy; academic performance; and behavioral well-being were assessed at 4 times of measure (baseline, postintervention, 2 follow-up times in eighth grade). Results SS seventh graders experienced significantly greater sleep health efficacy, improved physiological and emotional sleep hygiene, more time in bed, and earlier bedtimes vs comparison group. SS (vs comparison) participants also reported a significant decrease in internalizing behavior problems and sustained academic performance. Finally, although not maintained at time 4, SS participants continued to report improved sleep health efficacy at time 3, whereas the comparison group participants' sleep health efficacy declined. Conclusion The Sleep Smart preventive intervention was effective in improving sleep health efficacy, sleep hygiene, time in bed, and bedtimes; in maintaining grades; and in reducing internalizing behavior problems, yet these changes were not sustained at follow-up.

Sleep Patterns and Mental Health Correlates in US Adolescents

“…However, in 1 school-based intervention where school start time was delayed by 30 minutes, mean sleep duration increased by 45 minutes after the delay was instituted, and there was a decrease in the percentage of students who rated themselves as being unhappy, or depressed and irritated, or annoyed. 51 Likewise, Wolfson et al 52 recently reported a declining trend in internalizing symptoms among those in the seventh grade who participated in a school-based sleep hygiene educational intervention compared with a control school. In light of the high prevalence of suboptimal sleep patterns in adolescents, further studies are warranted to assess whether sleep pattern interventions may benefit adolescent mental health.…”

A pilot cluster-randomised study to increase sleep duration by decreasing electronic media use at night and caffeine consumption in adolescents

“…Studies evaluating the effectiveness of psychoeducative interventions for improving sleep hygiene among adolescents [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] have yielded mixed results. While some studies report improvements in sleep duration [27,31] and sleep quality and wellbeing [31], others report only partial or no improvements in any outcomes [28,29,31,33]. It has been argued that parental involvement in sleep hygiene interventions for adolescents might be crucial in augmenting intervention effects [34].…”

Time to learn: How chronotype impacts education

“…Several sleep hygiene programs have been developed and their efficacy has been tested in randomized, controlled studies. Depending on the specific program, different positive outcomes have been achieved, such as longer sleep duration, earlier bed times, and reduced discrepancy between sleep timing on weekdays and on weekends (Kira, Maddison, Hull, Blunden, & Olds, 2014;Moseley & Gradisar, 2009;Wolfson, Harkins, Johnson, & Marco, 2015). However, the observed changes did not always concern all students, and often disappeared at the last follow-up assessments.…”