Introduction:In order to provide continuous care for sick and elderly people, shift work is often unavoidable in caring professions such as nurses. However, there is evidence that working in shifts may cause sleeping problems. Depending on the methodological procedures used, studies suggest that approximately 10-30 % of shift workers suffer from shift work sleep disorder that is characterised by insomnia and/or sleepiness related to the shift schedule. Little is known about the treatment options for individuals suffering from this sleep disorder, with light therapy, sleep hygiene and pharmacotherapy being primarily discussed. Few studies explored the efficacy of face-to-face Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia in the context of shift work and reported promising results. Due to irregular working hours, it is particularly challenging for shift workers to attend fixed appointments, so online-delivered treatment could be an attractive alternative to face-to-face treatment. In this context, we developed an online-delivered training “SleepCare” for nurses working shifts that is tested for efficacy in the current study. It is hypothesised that the treatment with SleepCare reduces insomnia severity compared to a waiting-list control condition.

Materials and Methods: SleepCare is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and it is adapted to the situation of nurses working shifts. It consists of six modules which participants can complete independently and after which they receive individualised feedback from a clinical psychologist. A total of N = 46 unmedicated nurses who suffer from shift work sleep disorder will be included and randomised to either the active treatment group (SleepCare) or the waiting-list control group. Individuals who suffer from any comorbid sleep or psychiatric disorder or report any serious physical illness that affects sleep, who are undergoing psychotherapy or are on a waiting list for it, will be excluded. The primary outcome variable of the study is the Insomnia Severity Index. In addition, other sleep-related as well as work-related questionnaires, sleep diary data and actigraphy data before and after treatment as well as 6 months after treatment completion (follow-up) will be analysed.

Results: Recruitment started in October 2021 at the University Medical Centre Freiburg. It is intended to reach the planned sample size by the end of 2022.

Conclusions: This study is one of the first studies examining the effect of an online-delivered treatment based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia adapted to shift work.