The RELAX TO SLEEP Study

September 11, 2019 updated by: Robyn Stremler, The Hospital for Sick Children

The RELAX TO SLEEP Study: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Sleep is a biological process essential for health. Being hospitalized can exacerbate common sleep difficulties in children. Factors that contribute to sleep disturbances during hospitalization include environmental, physiological, and psychological factors. Although sleep interventions exist for healthy children in the community, interventions aimed at hospitalized children need to be developed and piloted with rigorous evaluative methods. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the RELAX TO SLEEP program on hospitalized children. Although this study is a pilot study, comparisons will be made to examine sleep outcomes between the intervention group and the control group including: total nocturnal (19h30-07h29), number of nighttime awakenings, longest stretch of nocturnal sleep, and total daytime (07h30-19h29) sleep. Other comparisons include anxiety levels and the development of post-hospital maladaptive behaviours.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
48

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5V1X8
        • The Hospital for Sick Children

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

4 years to 10 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Children between the ages of 4 and 10.
  2. Children expected to stay for 3 nights.
  3. Children must have a parent present that plans to stay overnight with the child and must understand English (parent must read English).
  4. Child must be in a single private room.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Children who are receiving palliative care only during their hospital admission.
  2. Children diagnosed with a sleep disorder or a clinical anxiety disorder.
  3. Children with limited or abnormal movements of both upper and lower extremities (e.g. paralysis, brain injury, cerebral palsy, use of drugs to induce paralysis, musculoskeletal impairments, use of restraints, under heavy sedation), thereby impairing sleep wake activity recording and the inability to use the relaxation breathing exercise.
  4. Children who are too acutely ill to participate in the study.
  5. Children who have major cognitive impairments that may impact their ability to understand and carry out the intervention.
  6. Children who are heavily sedated or receiving benzodiazepines or chloral hydrate.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Experimental group (RELAX TO SLEEP program)
Behavioral: Relax To Sleep Program
The educational portion of the program will consist of a standardized educational booklet and a discussion with the PI and provides a brief overview will be given on normal sleep and sleep patterns, children's sleep needs, and the signs and consequences of sleep disturbance. Second, the educational booklet provides sleep hygiene info. The second component consists of of good sleep habits such as having a regular sleep-wake schedule, avoiding caffeine intake prior to sleep, avoiding stimulating activities near nighttime sleep, avoidance of naps during the day, ensuring that the child is exposed to natural light during the day, providing the child with opportunities to socialize during the day. Finally, the program consists of a relaxation breathing technique for the child.
No Intervention: Control group (Usual Care)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total nocturnal sleep at hospital
Time Frame: total measured over 3 days and 3 nights
Nocturnal sleep in hospital as well as other sleep outcomes will be objectively measured using actigraphy.
total measured over 3 days and 3 nights

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety
Time Frame: Baseline, Day 5
Anxiety will be measured using the Spence Pre-school anxiety scale for children 4 to 5 years of age , and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) for children ages 6-10
Baseline, Day 5
Post-hospital maladaptive behaviours
Time Frame: Follow-up (5-7 days post discharge)
member of the research team will make contact within 5-7 days post-discharge by telephone and ask them to complete the Post-Hospital Behaviour Questionnaire (PHBQ), a self-report questionnaire for parents most commonly used for assessing children's post-hospital behaviour
Follow-up (5-7 days post discharge)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
The Hospital for Sick Children

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Robyn Stremler, The Hospital for Sick Children

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
November 21, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 21, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 27, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 13, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 11, 2019

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 10000 26217

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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