Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Sleep disturbances and insomnia are common in college students, and reduce their quality of life and academic performance. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological interventions aimed at improving sleep in college students. A meta-analysis was conducted with 10 randomized controlled trials with passive control conditions (N = 2,408). The overall mean effect size (Hedges’ g) of all sleep-related outcomes within each trial was moderate to large (g = 0.61; 95% confidence interval: 0.41−0.81; numbers-needed-to-treat = 3). Effect sizes for global measures of sleep disturbances were g = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.52−1.06; and for sleep-onset latency g = 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.36−0.94. The follow-up analyses revealed an effect size of g = 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.45−0.66 for the combined sleep-related outcomes based on three studies. No significant covariates were identified. These results should be interpreted cautiously due to an overall substantial risk of bias, and in particular with regard to blinding of participants and personnel. Nevertheless, they provide evidence that psychological interventions for improving sleep are efficacious among college students. Further research should explore long-term effects and potential moderators of treatment efficacy in college students.