Project Activities
The researchers conducted a sequence of four studies to develop, refine, and pilot test the Sleep to Be a Better You program. They began with two development studies (focus groups and an expert summit) followed by an intervention demonstration study and then a pilot study to examine the impact of the program on relevant process (e.g., student and parental attitudes about sleep) and outcome (e.g., daytime sleepiness, motivation and engagement, school performance) variables.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This study took place in school districts in Minnesota.
Sample
The sample included 96 middle school teachers, 12 middle school principals and administrators, 204 parents, and 230 racially and socioeconomically diverse middle school students. Half of the middle schools participated in development and feasibility testing, and the other six middle schools participated in the pilot test of the program.
Intervention
Researchers designed the Sleep to Be a Better You program as a universal curriculum that can be implemented in health classes to increase middle school students' healthy sleep behaviors by changing their attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy around sleep. Improvement in sleep behavior is expected to improve motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills to enhance school functioning. The program incorporates sleep information and strategies into an interactive classroom curriculum that teaches students about the importance of sleep, healthy sleep habits (e.g., sleep hygiene, stimulus control) and gives them tools to overcome sleep problems (e.g., meditation for insomnia). The program also includes materials for families to provide further support for healthy sleep behavior at home.
Research design and methods
The researchers conducted focus groups with teachers, administrators, parents, and students to gather feedback that informed revisions to the initial version of the program, followed by input from sleep experts on the theory of change and feasibility for middle schools. Next, the researchers used intervention demonstration sessions with teachers, students, and parents to determine feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and effectiveness of the program. After further refinements based on these sessions, researchers conducted a pilot study using a school-level randomized blocked design to test the impact of the program on key process and outcome variables.
Control condition
In the pilot study, schools that were randomly assigned to the control condition continued with their usual practices and then they implemented the Sleep to Be a Better You program after the pilot study was complete.
Key measures
Process outcomes included parent sleep knowledge; student attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions about sleep; student sleep quality, both objective (actigraphy — a non-invasive measure of sleep-wake cycles) and self-reported; and self- and parent-reported student sleep behaviors and daytime sleepiness. Student education outcome measures included teacher ratings of students' motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills (i.e., academic enablers), and school records of student discipline and attendance.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze data from the development studies. They used multi-level modelling to examine the impact of the Sleep to Be a Better You program on process and primary outcome variables.
Key outcomes
Additional information about key outcomes and study findings will be reported as peer reviewed publications are available.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Additional Online Resources and Information: Curriculum materials for the Sleep to Be a Better You program are available here: https://z.umn.edu/sleepbetter.
Select Publications:
So, M., Perry, N. B., Langenfeld, A. D., & Barnes, A. J. (2021). Adolescent sleep and mental health across race/ethnicity: Does parent-child connectedness matter? Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics: JDBP, 42(9), 742-750. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000958.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Barnes, Andrew; Wahlstrom, Kyla
Questions about this project?
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