Short- and Long-Term Effects of CBT-I in Groups for School-Age Children Suffering From Chronic Insomnia: The KiSS-Program

ABSTRACT

Objective/Background: This intervention study evaluates the short- and long-term effects of cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) in groups for school-age children and their parents, named the KiSS-program. CBT-I was implemented in three sessions for children and three sessions for parents. Participants and Methods: All in all, 112 children with chronic childhood insomnia were randomly assigned to a wait-list (WL) control or treatment condition. Results: According to subjective measures as well as objective wrist actigraphy, children in the CBT-I condition reported greater improvements in sleep behavior immediately after the treatment compared to the WL group. Improvements in sleep behavior after CBT-I persisted over the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up assessments. Conclusions: The present study is the first randomized controlled trial that provides evidence for the long-term effectiveness of CBT-I in treating school-age children with chronic insomnia.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Maria Zschoche and David Ambiel for their help with diagnostics and treatment.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Faculty of Medicine (AKF), University of Tuebingen, for the financial support of the pilot study. We acknowledge support for the Article Processing Charge by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Open Access Publication Fund of Bielefeld University.