0476 A Mobile App-Based Behavioral Intervention for Insomnia Among College Students

Abstract

Nearly 60% of college students suffer from poor sleep quality and 7.7% of students meet criteria for a sleep disorder (Schlarb et al., 2017). The most common of these sleep disorders is insomnia. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the frontline treatment for insomnia. The time and cost of CBT-I, however, has limited overall treatment uptake, especially among individuals with less severe symptom profiles or who are otherwise relatively healthy (e.g., college students). The goal of this study is to pilot-test a mobile application version of CBT-I (i.e., CBT-I Coach) to evaluate its effectiveness in treating insomnia symptoms among college students. The testing will also demonstrate the feasibility of using a CBT-I app for insomnia symptom treatment.The study uses a between- and within-subjects design to assess biweekly variations in insomnia symptom severity among college students over a period of 8 weeks. Participants are randomized into the intervention group or a wait-list control group (where they were asked to initiate the intervention after a four-week delay). Participants in both groups are asked to use the CBT-I Coach app daily for 4 weeks. Every two weeks, online surveys are completed to assess sleepiness (via the Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and the insomnia symptom severity (via the Insomnia Severity Index).While data collection is ongoing, to-date we have collected data from 17 participants. The mean baseline ISI score was 15.3. Of the 17 participants that completed the baseline, 65% (n=11) filled out the 4-week online survey. The mean ISI score at the 4-week follow-up was 12.7. Ten participants (or 59% of those that completed the baseline) completed the eight-week follow-up survey. Data collection is scheduled to be completed in April 2022, and a full summary of the results will be presented at the APSS conference in Charlotte.An effective app-based version of CBT-I has the potential to increase the accessibility of behavioral interventions for sleep to populations that are often missed by healthcare providers. Making CBT-I more available to college students and young adults may also decrease the onset of more chronic forms of insomnia.N/A