Integrative Group Visits for Sleep Disturbance: A Brief Report

Abstract

Background There is limited research on the efficacy of group visits using integrative treatment modalities and for people whose chief concern is sleep disturbance. This quality improvement project delivered integrative health content in group visits for people with self-reported sleep disturbance. Objective To describe an integrative group visit for sleep disturbance, explore the evaluation process for several outcomes, and report on lessons learned. Methods A group visit series involved 4 sessions over the course of 1 month, covering integrative health topics such as acupuncture, mind-body therapies, and herbal medicine. Participants were administered 2 validated surveys (PSQI and PROMIS-29) at baseline and 1- and 3-months post-intervention. Results In 4 4 week GV series,18 people participated in-person pre-pandemic, and 5 people participated virtually during the pandemic. The mean age for the entire cohort was 63.2 years. Of the 23 participants, 18 (78%) attended all 4 GV sessions within their series. Conclusion Preliminary findings from this study suggest that an integrative group visit approach to sleep disturbance is feasible yet would benefit from a more rigorous investigation.