Treating Sleep Problems in VA Adult Day Health Care (HERO-ADHC)

February 5, 2025 updated by: VA Office of Research and Development
The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act (Millennium Act) of 1999 mandated the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide non-institutional long-term care to veterans. Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) is a key component of that spectrum of long-term care services. Veterans in ADHC commonly suffer from limited poor functioning, depression, cognitive problems and low quality of life. These factors can lead to continued deterioration in functioning, loss of independence, hospitalizations, nursing home placement and death. Sleep disruption is associated with depression, low quality of life, functional decline, nursing home placement, and death among older people. Sleep disturbance is common among ADHC patients, it is not addressed within routine clinical care, and treatment may be limited to medications. Studies show that untreated insomnia and medications for insomnia can increase risk of falls and other health events among older persons. On the other hand, non-medication treatments for sleep do not show these problems. These treatments have been shown to be effective in other studies. The goal of this study is to test non-medication treatments to improve sleep among older Veterans with insomnia in a VA ADHC program. The study design will facilitate translation into routine care and application in other similar VA programs.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act (Millennium Act) of 1999 mandated the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide non-institutional long-term care to veterans. Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) is a key component of that spectrum of long-term care services. ADHC provides health maintenance, rehabilitation services and socialization in a group setting during daytime hours. Veterans in ADHC commonly suffer from limited physical functioning, depression, cognitive difficulties and low quality of life. These factors increase the likelihood of continued deterioration in functioning, loss of independence, hospitalizations, nursing home placement and death. Previous studies, including our own work, have demonstrated that sleep disruption is associated with depression, low quality of life, functional decline, nursing home placement, and death among older people. The investigators have found that sleep disturbance is common among ADHC patients, it is not addressed within routine clinical care, and treatment is commonly limited to medications (e.g., hypnotics, sedating antidepressants). Numerous studies show that both untreated insomnia and pharmacological treatment of insomnia can be associated with increased risk of falls and other adverse health events among older persons. On the other hand, nonpharmacological interventions on sleep do not show these adverse effects, have been shown to be effective and are associated with improvements in mood, quality of life and health.

The goal of the study was to test the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral intervention to improve self-reported and objectively-measured sleep quality among older veterans with insomnia in a VA ADHC program. The intervention program involved a 4-session manualized treatment. This Sleep Intervention Program (SIP) was compared to an active Sleep Education control that also included 4 individual sessions using a randomized trial with 72 veterans. To our knowledge, this study is the first to address the unmet need for non-pharmacological treatment of sleep problems among ADHC patients. The intervention design (e.g., use of a manualized treatment that can be provided by non-psychologists) will facilitate translation into routine care and application in other similar VA programs.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

72

Phase

  • 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

  • United States
    • California
      • Sepulveda, California, United States, 91343
        • VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Sepulveda, CA

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

Ages Eligible for Study

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

All of the following:

  • ADHC program participant
  • Age >= 60 years
  • Ability to communicate verbally

Exclusion Criteria:

One or more of the following:

  • Significant cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination score<20)

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: SIP group
The Sleep Intervention Program group received a sleep education program based on behavioral principles, delivered in 4 individual sessions carried out within the Adult Day Health Care program.
Behavioral: Sleep Intervention Program
Sessions focused on: 1) sleep consolidation and sleep schedule optimization, 2) sleep hygiene education, 3) cognitive therapy, and 4) maintenance of sleep improvements and coping with future bouts of insomnia.
Active Comparator: Control group
The Control group received basic sleep education, delivered in 4 individual sessions carried out within the Adult Day Health Care
Behavioral: Sleep Education control
During sessions, participants reviewed two educational brochures that focused on changes in sleep with age and sleep hygiene education.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sleep Efficiency
Time Frame: End of 4-week intervention
Percentage of time asleep while in bed estimated by actigraphy
End of 4-week intervention
Sleep Efficiency
Time Frame: 4-month follow-up
Percentage of time asleep while in bed estimated by actigraphy.
4-month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jennifer Martin, PhD, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Sepulveda, CA

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

November 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 10, 2010

First Posted (Estimated)

December 14, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2025

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • E7037-R

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.

Clinical Trials on Insomnia

Clinical Trials on Sleep Intervention Program

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Uruguay

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe