Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Karina Saruhanjan; Anna Carlotta Zarski; Tobias Bauer; Harald Baumeister; Pim Cuijpers; Kai Spiegelhalder; Randy P. Auerbach; Ronald C. Kessler; Ronny Bruffaerts; Eirini Karyotaki; Matthias Berking; David Daniel Ebert

doi:10.1111/jsr.13097

Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Karina Saruhanjan^*, Anna Carlotta Zarski, Tobias Bauer, Harald Baumeister, Pim Cuijpers, Kai Spiegelhalder, Randy P. Auerbach, Ronald C. Kessler, Ronny Bruffaerts, Eirini Karyotaki, Matthias Berking, David Daniel Ebert

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Sleep disturbances and insomnia are common in college students, and reduce their quality of life and academic performance. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological interventions aimed at improving sleep in college students. A meta-analysis was conducted with 10 randomized controlled trials with passive control conditions (N = 2,408). The overall mean effect size (Hedges’ g) of all sleep-related outcomes within each trial was moderate to large (g = 0.61; 95% confidence interval: 0.41−0.81; numbers-needed-to-treat = 3). Effect sizes for global measures of sleep disturbances were g = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.52−1.06; and for sleep-onset latency g = 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.36−0.94. The follow-up analyses revealed an effect size of g = 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.45−0.66 for the combined sleep-related outcomes based on three studies. No significant covariates were identified. These results should be interpreted cautiously due to an overall substantial risk of bias, and in particular with regard to blinding of participants and personnel. Nevertheless, they provide evidence that psychological interventions for improving sleep are efficacious among college students. Further research should explore long-term effects and potential moderators of treatment efficacy in college students.

Original language	English
Article number	e13097
Pages (from-to)	1-22
Number of pages	22
Journal	Journal of Sleep Research
Volume	30
Issue number	1
Early online date	16 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13097
Publication status	Published - Feb 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
DDE reports to have received consultancy fees or served in the scientific advisory board of Minddistrict, Sanofi, Lantern, Sch?n Kliniken, and German health insurance companies (BARMER, Techniker Krankenkasse). DDE and MB are stakeholders of the Institute for Health Trainings online (GET.ON), which aims to implement scientific findings related to digital health interventions into routine care. HB reports to have received consultancy fees and fees for lectures or workshops from chambers of psychotherapists and training institutes for psychotherapists. In the past 3?years, RCK received support for his epidemiological studies from Sanofi Aventis, was a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Wellness and Prevention, Sage Pharmaceuticals, Shire, Takeda, and served on an advisory board for the Johnson & Johnson Services Inc, and Lake Nona Life Project. RCK is a co-owner of DataStat, Inc, a market research firm that carries out health care research. KSp has received fees for workshops from training institutes for psychotherapists. This study was carried out as part of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student project (WMH-ICS): https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/college_student_survey.php

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Sleep Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Sleep Research Society

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

DDE reports to have received consultancy fees or served in the scientific advisory board of Minddistrict, Sanofi, Lantern, Sch?n Kliniken, and German health insurance companies (BARMER, Techniker Krankenkasse). DDE and MB are stakeholders of the Institute for Health Trainings online (GET.ON), which aims to implement scientific findings related to digital health interventions into routine care. HB reports to have received consultancy fees and fees for lectures or workshops from chambers of psychotherapists and training institutes for psychotherapists. In the past 3?years, RCK received support for his epidemiological studies from Sanofi Aventis, was a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Wellness and Prevention, Sage Pharmaceuticals, Shire, Takeda, and served on an advisory board for the Johnson & Johnson Services Inc, and Lake Nona Life Project. RCK is a co-owner of DataStat, Inc, a market research firm that carries out health care research. KSp has received fees for workshops from training institutes for psychotherapists. This study was carried out as part of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student project (WMH-ICS): https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/college_student_survey.php

Funders	Funder number
BARMER
Johnson & Johnson Wellness and Prevention
Sage Pharmaceuticals
Techniker Krankenkasse	GET.ON
World Health Organization
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
Shire

Keywords

insomnia
meta-analysis
sleep disturbances
students

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/jsr.13097

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Saruhanjan, K., Zarski, A. C., Bauer, T., Baumeister, H., Cuijpers, P., Spiegelhalder, K., Auerbach, R. P., Kessler, R. C., Bruffaerts, R., Karyotaki, E., Berking, M., & Ebert, D. D. (2021). Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Sleep Research, 30(1), 1-22. Article e13097. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13097

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abstract = "Sleep disturbances and insomnia are common in college students, and reduce their quality of life and academic performance. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological interventions aimed at improving sleep in college students. A meta-analysis was conducted with 10 randomized controlled trials with passive control conditions (N = 2,408). The overall mean effect size (Hedges{\textquoteright} g) of all sleep-related outcomes within each trial was moderate to large (g = 0.61; 95% confidence interval: 0.41−0.81; numbers-needed-to-treat = 3). Effect sizes for global measures of sleep disturbances were g = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.52−1.06; and for sleep-onset latency g = 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.36−0.94. The follow-up analyses revealed an effect size of g = 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.45−0.66 for the combined sleep-related outcomes based on three studies. No significant covariates were identified. These results should be interpreted cautiously due to an overall substantial risk of bias, and in particular with regard to blinding of participants and personnel. Nevertheless, they provide evidence that psychological interventions for improving sleep are efficacious among college students. Further research should explore long-term effects and potential moderators of treatment efficacy in college students.",

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author = "Karina Saruhanjan and Zarski, {Anna Carlotta} and Tobias Bauer and Harald Baumeister and Pim Cuijpers and Kai Spiegelhalder and Auerbach, {Randy P.} and Kessler, {Ronald C.} and Ronny Bruffaerts and Eirini Karyotaki and Matthias Berking and Ebert, {David Daniel}",

note = "Funding Information: DDE reports to have received consultancy fees or served in the scientific advisory board of Minddistrict, Sanofi, Lantern, Sch?n Kliniken, and German health insurance companies (BARMER, Techniker Krankenkasse). DDE and MB are stakeholders of the Institute for Health Trainings online (GET.ON), which aims to implement scientific findings related to digital health interventions into routine care. HB reports to have received consultancy fees and fees for lectures or workshops from chambers of psychotherapists and training institutes for psychotherapists. In the past 3?years, RCK received support for his epidemiological studies from Sanofi Aventis, was a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Wellness and Prevention, Sage Pharmaceuticals, Shire, Takeda, and served on an advisory board for the Johnson & Johnson Services Inc, and Lake Nona Life Project. RCK is a co-owner of DataStat, Inc, a market research firm that carries out health care research. KSp has received fees for workshops from training institutes for psychotherapists. This study was carried out as part of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student project (WMH-ICS): https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/college_student_survey.php Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Journal of Sleep Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Sleep Research Society Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1111/jsr.13097",

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Saruhanjan, K, Zarski, AC, Bauer, T, Baumeister, H, Cuijpers, P, Spiegelhalder, K, Auerbach, RP, Kessler, RC, Bruffaerts, R, Karyotaki, E, Berking, M & Ebert, DD 2021, 'Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials', Journal of Sleep Research, vol. 30, no. 1, e13097, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13097

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AU - Kessler, Ronald C.

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N2 - Sleep disturbances and insomnia are common in college students, and reduce their quality of life and academic performance. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological interventions aimed at improving sleep in college students. A meta-analysis was conducted with 10 randomized controlled trials with passive control conditions (N = 2,408). The overall mean effect size (Hedges’ g) of all sleep-related outcomes within each trial was moderate to large (g = 0.61; 95% confidence interval: 0.41−0.81; numbers-needed-to-treat = 3). Effect sizes for global measures of sleep disturbances were g = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.52−1.06; and for sleep-onset latency g = 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.36−0.94. The follow-up analyses revealed an effect size of g = 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.45−0.66 for the combined sleep-related outcomes based on three studies. No significant covariates were identified. These results should be interpreted cautiously due to an overall substantial risk of bias, and in particular with regard to blinding of participants and personnel. Nevertheless, they provide evidence that psychological interventions for improving sleep are efficacious among college students. Further research should explore long-term effects and potential moderators of treatment efficacy in college students.

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Psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

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