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Mental health
Research
Pilot evaluation of the Sleep Ninja: a smartphone application for adolescent insomnia symptoms
  1. Aliza Werner-Seidler1,
  2. Quincy Wong1,2,
  3. Lara Johnston1,
  4. Bridianne O’Dea1,
  5. Michelle Torok1,
  6. Helen Christensen1
  1. 1 Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. 2 School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Aliza Werner-Seidler; a.werner-seidler{at}blackdog.org.au

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to test the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of a recently developed smartphone application, Sleep Ninja, for adolescent sleep difficulties.

Setting The study was conducted online with Australian individuals recruited through the community.

Participants Participants were 50 young people aged 12–16 years with sleep difficulties.

Design A single-arm pre–post design was used to evaluate feasibility, acceptability and sleep and mental health variables at baseline and postintervention.

Intervention Cognitive–behavioural therapy for insomnia informed the development of the Sleep Ninja. The core strategies covered by the app are psychoeducation, stimulus control, sleep hygiene and sleep-related cognitive therapy. It includes six training sessions (lessons), a sleep tracking function, recommended bedtimes based on sleep guidelines, reminders to start a wind-down routine each night, a series of sleep tips and general information about sleep. Users progress through each training session and conclude the 6-week programme with a black belt in sleep.

Outcome measures Feasibility was evaluated based on consent rates, adherence and attrition, acceptability was assessed using questionnaires and a poststudy interview, and sleep, depression and anxiety variables were assessed at baseline and postintervention.

Results Data indicated that the Sleep Ninja is a feasible intervention and is acceptable to young people. Findings showed that there were significant improvements on sleep variables including insomnia (within-group effect size d=−0.90), sleep quality (d=−0.46), depression (d=−0.36) and anxiety (d=−0.41).

Conclusions The Sleep Ninja is a promising intervention that could assist adolescents who experience sleep difficulties. A follow-up randomised controlled trial is now warranted.

Trial registration number ACTRN12617000141347

  • Insomnia
  • Adolescent Mental Health
  • Cognitive-behaviour Therapy For Insomnia
  • Ehealth

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026502

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors AW-S, BO, MT and HC conceived of the study and the trial design. AW-S designed the study with input from all authors, and oversaw the management of the trial. LJ led trial recruitment, managed the day-to-day running of the trial and conducted the participant interviews. QW conducted the analyses with assistance from AW-S and LJ. All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.

    • Funding This work was supported by a grant awarded to AW-S and the Black Dog Institute by the Corella Foundation.

    • Disclaimer Funders had no rolein the design, implementation or reporting of this study.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval All procedures were approved by the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (HC#16702).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional unpublished data from this study are publicly available.