Feasibility, Acceptability and Effectiveness of the SOmNI Mobile Phone App for Sleep Promotion in Adolescents (SOmNI)

Feasibility, Acceptability and Effectiveness of the SOmNI (Sleep Outcomes, Mhealth, Wearable Sensors and Nudging Intervention) Mobile Phone App for Sleep Promotion in Adolescents: SOmNI Pilot RCT

This study evaluates the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of an intervention using wearable sensors and a mHealth application, SOmNI, to promote sleep for adolescents. The investigators hypothesize that a behavioural intervention delivered through a mobile app will be a cost-effective and accessible method of engaging adolescents in the self-management of sleep behaviours. Participants will be randomized to either the SOmNI Intervention group or the Control group. Participants receiving the SOmNI app will attempt to incrementally move their school night bedtime earlier in the evening.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sleep Deprivation
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: SOmNI app; Other: Control group

Detailed Description

Over 60% of adolescents sleep less than the 9 hours of sleep recommended for 13-18 year olds. Quality of life is reduced due to the daytime consequences of chronic sleep deprivation such as sleepiness, fatigue, low mood, and inattentiveness at school. Although this sleep debt occurs in otherwise healthy adolescents, it significantly increases their risk of development of the chronic health conditions (cardiovascular disease and depression) and forms of accidental injury (motor vehicle accidents) that place the greatest demands on our health care system. Despite increased recognition of adequate sleep as a key contributor to health, there exist few effective interventions to promote sleep in adolescents. This study is designed to determine compliance, feasibility and preliminary data on health outcomes (nocturnal sleep measured objectively by actigraphy; daytime sleepiness; anxiety; depression; unintentional injuries; morning school attendance). This study will be a pilot RCT, randomizing 76 adolescents to one of two groups (i.e. 38 per group). Study arms will include a control group and intervention group (activity monitoring device with custom application). Mobile health, user-friendly low-intensity interventions with wearable sleep sensors and tailored feedback may help many adolescents to increase the amount of sleep they achieve.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 65
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 1P8
      • University of Toronto

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 17 years (CHILD)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• enrolled in high school (grades 9 to 12)
• ages 13-17 years
• report sleeping <8 hours per weeknight (Sun-Thurs)
• endorse daytime sleepiness that interferes with their daily function to a moderate or severe degree (e.g. To what extent do you consider your sleepiness to interfere with your daily functioning (e.g. daytime fatigue, mood, ability to function at school, concentration, memory)
• report sleeping >9 hours on weekend nights (Fri-Sat)
• have either their own iPhone (version 4S or higher) or are willing to use a study-provided iPhone

Exclusion Criteria:

• developmental delay (e.g. more than one grade level beyond what is appropriate for age)
• physician-diagnosed, significant physical health problem (e.g. cystic fibrosis, diabetes, lupus, kidney disease, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, etc)
• physician-diagnosed mental health problem (e.g. anxiety, depression, ADHD),
• physician-diagnosed sleep disorder (e.g. narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, restless leg syndrome)
• suspected sleep disordered breathing problem as identified by screening with questions from the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire
• suspected insomnia based on screening with questions from the Insomnia Severity Index
• suspected Restless Leg Syndrome based on screening with the International RLS Study Group questionnaire
• suspected delayed sleep phase syndrome as evidenced by consistent inability to fall asleep before 01h00 to 06h00, significant impairment in the ability to attend school due to extreme delay of their sleep schedule, and avoidance of other social or family functions in the daytime

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: DOUBLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: SOmNI intervention group; Participants will receive an iPhone with the SOmNI app and will be instructed to move their bedtime earlier by 5 minutes (from their average baseline week bedtime) on each school night (Sunday to Thursday). Participants will also be given sleep hygiene information related to the embedded features of the SOmNI app. A research assistant will help the participant to enter the appropriate goal bedtime in the SOmNI app and orient them to the features of the SOmNI app. Participants will also be instructed to aim for <1 hour difference between school night and weekend bedtimes and wake times (i.e. avoid staying up late and sleeping in on weekends). The SOmNI application will allow the user to graphically track sleep behaviour across the four-week intervention period as recorded by the wearable sensor (e.g. bedtimes, wake times, amount of sleep achieved will all be displayed in the app).	Device: SOmNI app; In addition to allowing users to track sleep behaviours across the four-week intervention period, the SOmNI app will also provide messaging via alerts and tips to outline the importance of sleep to health, suggest optimal sleep timing/duration, and suggest sleep promotion strategies. Daily review questions in the app will help the participants link changes in sleep behaviours to changes in health outcomes. As well, when goals related to sleep extension are met, the SOmNI rewards program awards points to the participant and these points can then be redeemed in $5 increments to a maximum of $40 for gift certificates.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Control group; The research assistant will advise the participant to increase the amount of nighttime sleep achieved but will not give any sleep hygiene advice or instructions for moving their bedtime earlier.	Other: Control group; The research assistant will advise the participant to increase the amount of nighttime sleep achieved but will not give any sleep hygiene advice or instructions for moving their bedtime earlier.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Compliance rate	Compliance rate (percentage of participants assigned to intervention group who used SOMNI app to monitor sleep)	Through study completion, an average of 6 weeks
Dropout rate	Dropout rate (percentage of participants who withdrew from the study groups)	Through study completion, an average of 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Recruitment rate	Percent of those eligible approached to participate who gave consent	Through study completion, an average of 6 weeks
Data completion rates	Percent of participants who completed study measurements (actigraphy, sleep diary)	Through study completion, an average of 6 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in nocturnal school night sleep duration	Mean minutes of nocturnal (9pm to 9am) school night sleep (averaged over 5 nights Sun-Thurs)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in nocturnal weekend sleep duration	Mean minutes of nocturnal (9pm to 9am) weekend sleep (averaged over two nights -Fri-Sat)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in daytime school night sleep	Mean minutes of daytime (9am to 9pm) school night sleep (averaged over five days -Mon-Fri)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in daytime weekend sleep	Mean minutes of daytime (9am to 9pm) weekend sleep (averaged over two days -Sat-Sun)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in daytime sleepiness	Epworth Sleepiness Scale (minimum to maximum scores range from 0-24; values >10 represent excessive daytime sleepiness)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in sleep quality	School sleep habits survey	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in sleep hygiene	Sleep Hygiene Index	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in anxiety	Speilberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory -State portion	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in depression	Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (minimum to maximum scores range from 0-60; values >16 indicate possible clinical depression)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in unintentional injuries	Questionnaire asking participants if they accidentally injured themselves (e.g. cuts, strains, falls) in the last 4 weeks	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in morning school attendance	Questionnaire asking participants if they arrived to school late on mornings in the last 4 weeks	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in Body Mass Index	Height (meters) and weight (kg) will be used to calculate BMI (kg/meters squared)	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)
Change in Blood Pressure (mm Hg)	Blood pressure will be taken using a manual sphygmomanometer	Baseline (week 1) to Follow up (week 5)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Toronto
• Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Robyn Stremler, RN, PhD, University of Toronto

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): January 26, 2018
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): June 28, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): June 28, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 5, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 11, 2019
• First Posted (ACTUAL): September 13, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): November 19, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 18, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Dyssomnias; Sleep Wake Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Sleep Deprivation
• Other Study ID Numbers: MOP-136818

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No