Abstract

Objectives: Parent knowledge of what healthy sleep looks like in their children has scarcely been evaluated, and little is known as to whether improving child sleep through a brief behavioral intervention that emphasizes mastery, personalization, motivation, and modeling will enhance sleep outcomes in children. As a result, we designed this study with the following aims in mind: 1) determine existing parental knowledge of healthy child sleep practices of parents; 2) test the impact of a personalized, brief parental sleep intervention aimed at increasing parental self-efficacy and parent behaviors; and 3) determine preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and impact of this personalized intervention on improving child sleep outcomes and parental knowledge of healthy sleep practices. Methods: Eligible parents and child dyads were mailed a package containing study materials. Following a 7-day baseline period, parents came in for a brief behavioral intervention appointment aimed to help improve their child’s sleep. At a follow-up appointment occurring 2 weeks later, parents completed identical measures from the baseline questionnaires, participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview, and reviewed actigraphy data to examine changes in their child’s sleep. Results: Community parental knowledge of healthy sleep was insufficient. Parental knowledge of child sleep improved significantly with the intervention with large effect. Child sleep habits, pediatric insomnia severity, and parent self-efficacy all significantly improved with moderate to large effect. Child mental and behavioral health did not change pre- to post-intervention. Actigraphy-measured duration, onset latency, and wake after sleep onset were unaffected by the intervention. Sleep efficiency significantly worsened across the intervention period. Qualitative analysis revealed the intervention to be found generally acceptable and feasible. Discussion: The proposed brief behavioral intervention model was effective in improving subjective sleep outcomes, as well as parent self-efficacy and parent knowledge of healthy sleep, highlighting the importance of using brief behavioral sleep interventions given the increased accessibility they offer. This intervention not only successfully enhanced parent self-efficacy and knowledge of sleep but also offers a simple, affordable approach that can be widely implemented by clinicians to improve child sleep outcomes and overall family wellbeing.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2025-04-23

Document Type

Dissertation

Keywords

Pediatric sleep, brief behavioral intervention, sleep intervention

Language

english

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