Digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia reduces insomnia in nurses suffering from shift work disorder: A randomised-controlled pilot trial
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Authors
Insomnia is a primary symptom of shift work disorder, yet it remains undertreated. This randomised-controlled pilot trial examined the efficacy of a digital, guided cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia adapted to shift work (SleepCare) in nurses with shift work disorder. The hypothesis was that SleepCare reduces insomnia severity compared with a waitlist control condition. A total of 46 unmedicated nurses suffering from shift work disorder with insomnia (age: 39.7 ± 12.1 years; 80.4% female) were randomised to the SleepCare group or the waitlist control group. The primary outcome measure was the Insomnia Severity Index. Other questionnaires on sleep, mental health and occupational functioning, sleep diary data and actigraphy data were analysed as secondary outcomes. Assessments were conducted before (T0), after the intervention/waitlist period (T1), and 6 months after treatment completion (T2). The SleepCare group showed a significant reduction in insomnia severity from T0 to T1 compared with the control condition (β = −4.73, SE = 1.12, p < 0.001). Significant improvements were observed in sleepiness, dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, pre-sleep arousal, sleep effort, self-reported sleep efficiency and sleep onset latency. No significant effect was found in actigraphy data. Depressive and anxiety symptoms, cognitive irritation and work ability improved significantly. Overall, satisfaction and engagement with the intervention was high. SleepCare improved insomnia severity, sleep, mental health and occupational functioning. This is the first randomised-controlled trial investigating the efficacy of digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in a population suffering from shift work disorder with insomnia. Future research should further explore these effects with larger sample sizes and active control conditions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e14193 |
| Journal | Journal of Sleep Research |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 0962-1105 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 14.03.2024 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
This project was supported by the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is a non‐profit organisation of the German Federation of Trade Unions. The authors thank Dorothea Ell, Theresia Ell and Christopher Theis for translating the Shift Work Disorder Screening Tool into German based on the committee‐based approach (Behr, 2018 ). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Funding Information:
JE: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. HB: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. AFJ: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. LS: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. LJG: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. BF: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. HJ: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. AV: financial disclosure: has grants from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC: #125553), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJK‐179821), and the New Frontiers in Research Fund (#NFRFR‐2021‐00392) that are not related to the present study, and a researcher‐initiated grant from EISAI Inc. (New Jersey) not related to the present study; non‐financial disclosure: none. LF: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. KD: in the past 3 years: member of the Steering Committee Neurosciences, Janssen‐Cilag GmbH, and speaker's honoraria from Janssen‐Cilag GmbH; board member of the Freiburg Training Institute for Behavioural Therapy (FAVT GmbH). DR: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. DL: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none. KS: financial disclosure: none; non‐financial disclosure: none.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Sleep Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Sleep Research Society.
- cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, digital intervention, nurses, shift work disorder
- Psychology