Treatment of children’s sleep problems and its effect on maternal mental health

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a behaviour intervention for child sleep problems on the mother’s internalizing behaviour. Sixty-two mothers who participated in an intervention for childhood insomnia through a programme designed for parents were evaluated using the Adult Self Report. Assessments were conducted one week before and one week after treatment completion. The child sleep problem score and mother internalizing behaviour score were significantly lower after the treatment of child sleep problems when compared to the pre-treatment period. However, adjusted analyses demonstrated that only maternal adaptive functioning continued to exert a significant and independent effect on the mother’s internalizing behaviour even after adjustment for maternal age and child sleep problems (β = −0.518; p < 0.01). The current study demonstrated that a behavioural intervention for improving child sleep problems through a programme designed for parents also benefited the mother’s internalizing behaviour.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep
• behavioural intervention
• mental health
• children
• mother

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participating families.

Compliance with ethical standards

Ethical Approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [grant number 2012/14023-0].

Notes on contributors

Renatha El Rafihi-Ferreira

Renatha El Rafihi-Ferreira, Ph.D. is a Researcher at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her research interests focus on behavioral treatments for sleep problems in children and adults.

Maria Laura Nogueira Pires

Maria Laura Nogueira Pires, Ph.D. is a Professor at Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’, Brazil. Her research interests focus on Sleep Psychology, actigraphy, chronobiology and behavioral psychology.

Marco Fabio Mastroeni

Marco Fabio Mastroeni, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Post-Graduation Program in Health and Environment at University of Joinville Region, Brazil. His research interests focus on all aspects of maternal and child health, including the impact of maternal mental health on the weight status of infants and young children.

Edwiges Ferreira de Mattos Silvares

Edwiges Ferreira de Mattos Silvares, Ph.D. is a Senior Professor at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her research interests focus on child behavioral assessment and intervention.