TITLE:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as the Basis for Preventive Intervention in a Sleep Health Program: A Quasi-Experimental Study of E-Mail Newsletters to College Students
AUTHORS:
Kenichi Asano, Ikuo Ishimura, Hironori Abe, Michiko Nakazato, Akiko Nakagawa, Eiji Shimizu
KEYWORDS:
Sleep, College Students, Insomnia, Mental Health, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Psychology,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
29,
2015
ABSTRACT: Several reports suggest that college students
often have atypical sleep patterns and experience poor sleep quality. We
examined the effect of a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) based intervention
program to improve sleep quality and overall mental health among college
students. The intervention was delivered in the form of e-mail newsletters.
Fifty-three students participated in the intervention group, and another 50
students participated in the control group. The intervention group received a
lecture on sleep hygiene; once-weekly e-mail newsletters on sleep health topics
(sleep hygiene, stimulus control, sleep restriction, sleep titration, and
relapse prevention) and were asked to maintain a four-week sleep diary. The
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a measure of sleep quality, and the
Kessler 6, a measure of psychological distress, were administered before the
lecture (as the baseline measurement) and again 16 weeks later (follow-up
measurement). PSQI and K6 scores were reduced in the intervention group
compared with the control group. A CBT-based sleep health program utilizing
e-mail newsletters may work to improve sleep quality and mental health. This
program may represent a cost effective way for Japanese students to receive
treatment for poor sleep and may also serve to prevent psychiatric problems.