Exploring the Impact of a Sleep App on Sleep Quality

Exploring the Impact of a Sleep App on Sleep Quality: a Randomised Controlled Pilot Study

Sufficient sleep is crucial for good health, yet a third of UK adults have impaired sleep quality. Therefore, there is urgent need for population-level sleep interventions. However, many sleep interventions (such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia) are resource intensive and not widely available. Research demonstrates that smartphone interventions are an effective way to reach the wider population. However, many commercially available smartphone sleep applications focus on one technique, and hence do not tailor to the diverse needs of individuals. A new sleep app offers six different techniques, allowing individuals to shape their own journey to improved sleep quality. The investigators aim to test the sleep app's efficacy and gather user experience data to allow app optimisation. The study is a two-arm pilot randomised control trial (RCT). After recruitment and screening, baseline measurements will be taken: subjective sleep quality data will be collected using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Consensus Sleep Diary from all participants and objective accelerometry data via an Oura Ring (worn on finger for a week) on a subsample of participants. Participants will then be randomised to the intervention or control. Intervention participants will be given free use of the sleep app for 3 months. Controls will be informed that they will not receive access to the intervention and will be asked to abstain from using any other digital sleep-based intervention during the 3 months. All participants will be given the ISI after each month and will be given the Consensus Sleep Diary to fill out for one week again after 2 months. The planned Oura ring follow-up after 2 months for participants who wore the Oura ring at baseline has been cancelled due to COVID-19. User engagement will be assessed using the Digital Behaviour Change Intervention Engagement Scale. Telephone interviews will also be conducted with 20-30 participants to explore experience of using the app, how the comparison group felt about being allocated to the control group and how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected their sleep and other measures of the study. Change in self-reported sleep will be the primary outcome and qualitative user data secondary. Appropriate tests (such as an ANOVA or linear regression controlling for baseline sleep and testing for effect of group when using continuous data) and thematic analysis of qualitative interview data will be conducted.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Sleep
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Sleep App

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 101
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, WC1E 7HB
    • University College London

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 18 or above
• Own a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having a clinically diagnosed sleep disorder for which they are currently being treated
• Frequent use (once a week or more) of any sleep medication
• Enrolment on another sleep trial
• Being unwilling to cease usage of other sleep apps for the duration of the study
• Pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sleep App; Participants in this condition will receive full free access to the "Pro" version of the sleep app and asked to use the app every day for three months.	Behavioral: Sleep App; A sleep app offering 6 evidence based techniques to improve sleep (such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Mindfulness Meditation), allowing for a personally tailored journey of sleep aids within the app.
No Intervention: Control; Participants in this condition will be asked to continue their life as normal and abstain from downloading or using any sleep aid and/or sleep tracker app for three months.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in self-reported sleep quality	Measured using the Insomnia Severity Index. The scores from the Insomnia Severity Index range from 0 to 28, where higher scores indicate worse sleep quality.	Baseline/1 month/2 months/3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in self-reported sleep	Measured using the Consensus Sleep Diary.	Baseline/2 months
Engagement with the sleep app	Participant's responses to the Digital Behaviour Change Intervention Engagement Scale (only applicable to participants in the intervention group). The scores from the Digital Behaviour Change Intervention Engagement Scale range from 8 to 56, where higher scores indicate higher engagement.	Once a week for 3 months
Telephone interview qualitative user data	Participant's qualitative responses to telephone interview questions about their experience of using the sleep app, how the comparison group felt about being allocated to the control group, and how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected their sleep and other measures of the study (on a subsample of 20-30 participants).	Up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University College, London
• Collaborators: University of California, Los Angeles
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Abi Fisher, University College, London

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 13, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 17, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): August 15, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 7, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): July 27, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 11, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: SleepAppEvaluation

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Pilot study and the investigators plan to disseminate findings in a peer reviewed publication and a masters thesis.

Drug and device information, study documents

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