Effect of sleep report feedback using information and communication technology combined with health guidance on improving sleep indicators in community‐dwelling older people: a pilot trial

Abstract

BackgroundThis study evaluated the preliminary effect of an integrated novel intervention comprising visualised sleep report feedback using information and communication technology and periodic health guidance on improving sleep indicators among community‐dwelling older people.MethodsThe intervention was implemented among 29 older people in Sakai City, Japan, in a 3 months pilot trial. Non‐worn actigraph devices were placed under participants' bedding to continuously measure their sleep state, and they received monthly sleep reports in writing. Sleep efficiency, total sleep time, sleep latency, and the number of times away from bed were recorded. A trained nurse expertly interpreted participants' sleep data and provided telephone health guidance. The first month's data were used as the baseline (T1), the second month provided data for the first intervention (T2), and the third month provided data for the second intervention (T3). Friedman tests and Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests were used to examine differences in sleep outcomes between different time points.ResultsParticipants' mean age was 78.97 ± 5.15 years, and 51.72% (15/29) were female. Comparison of T2 and T1 showed the intervention decreased participants' sleep latency at T2 (P = 0.038). Compared with T1, the intervention significantly decreased sleep latency (P = 0.004), increased total sleep time (P < 0.001), and improved sleep efficiency (P < 0.001) at T3. When T3 was compared with T2, only total sleep time was significantly increased (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the number of times away from bed across the three time points (P > 0.05).ConclusionsThis visualised sleep report feedback and periodic health guidance intervention for community‐dwelling older people showed promising, albeit small preliminary effects on sleep. A fully powered randomised controlled trial is required to verify the significance of this effect.