Abstract
Insomnia after Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is common and can negatively impact individuals’ rehabilitation, recovery and quality of life. The present study investigated the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a Brief Behavioural Treatment for Insomnia (BBTI) in a community sample following ABI. Ten participants were recruited. Seven participants attended four weekly sessions of BBTI and kept a daily sleep diary. Participants completed a semi-structured sleep interview at baseline and self-report measures of sleep, anxiety and depression pre- and post-treatment as well as a treatment acceptability questionnaire post-treatment. Follow-up data were collected at one, two- and three-months post-treatment. Visual analyses of the data were performed on a case-by-case basis. Five participants (71%) demonstrated clinically significant improvements in sleep questionnaire measures, one showed treatment response and one (14%) showed nonresponse post-treatment. Treatment effects on sleep outcomes were either maintained or augmented at follow-ups. BBTI was found to be well-tolerable, as evidenced by high overall retention rates (70%) and positive feedback on the treatment acceptability questionnaire. These results provide preliminary evidence of BBTI being both feasible to use and efficacious in individuals with post-brain-injury insomnia. Larger-scale randomised controlled trials are needed to establish the effectiveness of BBTI following ABI.