The effect of explicit and implicit online self-compassion interventions on sleep quality among Chinese adults: A longitudinal and diary study

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit online intervention methods for self-compassion on improving sleep quality among Chinese adults.MethodsA total of 328 adult participants were recruited to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Questionnaire and Self-compassion Scale, and 168 participants were randomly assigned to one of three different conditions: two self-compassion intervention groups (self-compassion writing intervention asked participants to write several sentences with self-compassion, and self-compassion combination intervention asked participants to combine words into complete sentences with self-compassion) and one control group. After 1 week of online self-compassion intervention with daily sleep quality measured simultaneously, 150 participants completed the posttest of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Questionnaire and Self-Compassion Scale.ResultsThe pretest and posttests results showed that the self-compassion level and sleep quality of the self-compassion writing intervention group were significantly better than those of the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the self-compassion combination intervention group and the control group. For the diary tracking results, sleep quality was significantly better for both the self-compassion writing intervention group and self-compassion combination intervention group than the control group, however, the self-compassion writing intervention group showed great improvements.ConclusionBoth self-compassion writing and combination interventions were effective in improving sleep quality, and the effect of self-compassion writing was more stable.

Sleep in NCAA Division I collegiate athletes: Relations with self‐compassion, stress, and rumination

“…A more recent online intervention self‐compassion intervention program called Resilience and Enhancement in Sport, Exercise, & Training (RESET; Kuchar et al., 2023) found that college athletes experienced greater increases in self‐compassion, and both self‐rated and coach‐rated perceived sport performance, as well as decreases in self‐criticism, depression, anxiety, and stress compared to a waitlist control group. These findings along with previous research showing that self‐compassion interventions result in improved sleep quality in non‐athlete college and adult samples (Butz & Stahlberg, 2018; Sheng et al., 2023), provide support for self‐compassion training as a potentially relevant and important resource for promoting mental health and sleep health in college athletes.…”

“…Previous studies with non‐athlete college students have demonstrated that higher self‐compassion is associated with shorter sleep onset latency (Hu et al., 2018), reduced sleep disturbances (Teixeira et al., 2016), and improved sleep quality (Greeson et al., 2014; Hu et al., 2018; Semenchuk et al., 2022). Moreover, self‐compassion intervention studies have been shown to improve sleep quality in student, adult, and clinical populations (Butz & Stahlberg, 2018; Sheng et al., 2023). These findings have been consolidated recently in two meta‐analyses demonstrating negative and moderate associations between self‐compassion and sleep difficulties (Brown et al., 2021; Butz & Stahlberg, 2020).…”

Language model BERT can estimate trait self-compassion from people's free texts with high accuracy

“…However, a questionnaire scale such as the SCS measures self-compassion by presenting the concept of self-compassion itself (e.g., "be kind to yourself") and then asking the participants to rate themselves on whether they fit the concept. Presenting the self-compassion concept in this way may serve as a kind of priming to participants or cause them to have some preconceived notion [41]. In East Asia, including Japan, where self-criticism is sometimes considered a virtue and the SCS score is lower than the West [42], self-compassion is an unfamiliar concept and may serve as a more robust primer.…”