Piloting a brief digital behavioral intervention for adolescent sleep

TL;DR

A digital behavioral intervention helped adolescents sleep earlier and longer, but more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness.

Contribution

A pilot digital behavioral intervention combining CBT-I and motivational techniques was tested for adolescent sleep.

Findings

Both groups went to sleep earlier and slept longer post-intervention compared to baseline.

Self-reported sleep quality improved with the digital intervention.

No significant changes in depressive symptoms or emotion regulation were observed.

Abstract

Adolescents worldwide suffer from inadequate sleep duration. Much of the sleep curtailment is secondary to going to sleep late and awakening early to get to school. While several interventions to shift bedtimes to an early hour have been proposed, many are not readily disseminable. The purpose of this study was to pilot the application of a digital behavioral intervention on adolescent sleep timing and subsequent effects on mood.

Over a 10-week period, we studied fourteen healthy adolescents (M age = 16.1 years, SD = 1.4, 50% female) who wanted to go to sleep at an earlier hour. After a two-week baseline, participants were randomly assigned to an eight-week active or placebo light therapy condition. During the first four weeks of intervention, both groups additionally received the digital behavioral intervention, which included elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), values-based clarification, and motivational interviewing. The intervention consisted of 19 short core videos and four optional values-based videos.

Sleep logs showed that post-intervention, as compared to baseline, both groups went to sleep earlier (CBT + active light: 7.70 ± 45.8 min; CBT + sham light: 24.8 ± 39.1 min) and slept longer (CBT + active light: 13.0 ± 47.3 min; CBT + sham light: 47.8 ± 74.6 min). Sleep latency decreased slightly in the CBT + active light (3.47 ± 9.07 min) and increased in the CBT + sham light (8.78 ± 18.2 min). Self-reported sleep quality supported these findings. No changes were observed in depressive symptoms or emotion regulation.

Preliminary findings suggest that the current digital behavioral intervention improves self-reported measures of sleep. Further research with a larger sample size is needed to fully assess the intervention’s efficacy and long-term effects.

Clinical Trials.gov #NCT05808179.

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