Non-pharmacological sleep interventions for youth with chronic health conditions: A critical review of the methodological quality of the evidence

Abstract

Purpose: Restorative sleep is clearly linked with well-being in youth with chronic health conditions. This review addresses the methodological quality of non-pharmacological sleep intervention (NPSI) research for youth with chronic health conditions. Method: The Guidelines for Critical Review (GCR) and the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool (EPHPP) were used in the review. Results: The search yielded 31 behavioural and 10 non-behavioural NPSI for review. Most studies had less than 10 participants. Autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, and visual impairments were the conditions that most studies focused upon. The global EPHPP scores indicated most reviewed studies were of weak quality. Only 7 studies were rated as moderate, none were strong. Studies rated as weak quality frequently had recruitment issues; non-blinded participants/parents and/or researchers; and used outcome measures without sound psychometric properties. Conclusions: Little conclusive evidence exists for NPSIs in this population. However, NPSIs are widely used and these preliminary studies demonstrate promising outcomes. There have not been any published reports of negative outcomes that would preclude application of the different NPSIs on a case-by-case basis guided by clinical judgement. These findings support the need for more rigorous, applied research.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Methodological Quality of Sleep Research

• Disordered sleep (DS) in youth with chronic health conditions is pervasive and is important to rehabilitation therapists because DS contributes to significant functional problems across psychological, physical and emotional domains.

• Rehabilitation therapists and other healthcare providers receive little education about disordered sleep and are largely unaware of the range of assessment and non-pharmacological intervention strategies that exist. An evidence-based website of pediatric sleep resources can be found at http://www.SleepRight.ualberta.ca

• The current research on non-pharmacological sleep interventions (NPSI) for youth with health conditions is methodologically weak. However, consistently positive outcomes reported in the literature demonstrate that pragmatic interventions such as bright light therapy, activity, massage and behavioral interventions are promising areas. No studies found reasons that a trail of a NPSI matched to the youth’s context and condition should not attempted. More rigorous clinically relevant study of pragmatic non-pharmacological interventions appropriate for therapists’ and parents’ needs is required.

Keywords::

• Children
• Critical Review
• Intervention
• Sleep
• Youth

Declaration of Interest: Health Research Transfer Network of Alberta (RTNA). The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Notes

¹For the purposes of this proposal we will use the generic term disordered sleep (DS) to represent the wide constellation of sleep related conditions and problems including – hypersomnia (including sleep apnea and narcolepsy), parasomnia (including confusional arousal, night terrors, restless leg syndrome, sleep walking), insomnia (difficulty falling and/or staying asleep), and sleep-wake cycle disturbances.