Evaluating the Sleep Treatment Education Program (STEP-1): A single-session educational workshop addressing insomnia in cancer survivors

Abstract

Insomnia is a common late effect of cancer, affecting as many as 27% of cancer survivors. Although cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is highly effective, treatment-associated burdens and limited availability of providers result in few survivors receiving this treatment. To address this gap, we developed the Sleep Treatment Education Program-1 (STEP-1), a single-session intervention addressing insomnia after cancer. As a preliminary evaluation of STEP-1’s potential to improve survivors’ insomnia, STEP-1 was delivered to a convenience sample of 34 cancer survivors as an educational workshop in person or by videoconference. Participants completed the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) at the workshop and at 1-month follow-up; items assessing participants’ intentions to implement program suggestions and satisfaction were also collected. At 1-month follow-up, mean insomnia symptoms on the ISI were significantly lower compared to baseline (9.73 vs 15.73; d = 1.38, P < .001); the reduction in mean ISI scores did not significantly differ between in-person and videoconference participants (5.82 vs 6.33; P = .78). These results, along with positive indicators of program engagement and satisfaction, support the potential efficacy of STEP-1 to meet survivors’ needs for insomnia care. Particularly when delivered by videoconference, STEP-1 has the potential to dramatically improve access and uptake for insomnia treatment in cancer survivors. Results also more generally support development of low-intensity, self-management insomnia interventions for cancer survivors and potentially other populations.

Keywords:

• psycho-oncology
• self-management
• sleep
• survivors
• treatment

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Contributions

Lydia Chevalier: Formal analysis, writing–original draft, writing–review and editing, and visualization. Elizabeth Fine: Formal analysis, data curation, and writing–review and editing. Aditi Sharma: Formal analysis, data curation, and writing–review and editing. Eric Zhou: Conceptualization, methodology, and writing–review and editing. Christopher Recklitis: Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing–original draft, writing–review and editing, visualization, supervision, and project administration.

Ethical approval

DFCI IRB Protocol 20-670.

Additional information

Funding

Research was supported by Swim Across America. Sponsors played no role in study design, implementation, data analysis, or writing and submission of the manuscript.