Impact of reducing screen use at bedtime on sleep health in children.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the impact of screen use at bedtime on sleep health in children aged five to ten years old with insomnia: multiple single-case experimental design study.
IRAS ID
321152
Contact name
David McCormack
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen’s University Belfast
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study is being conducted as a part of a doctoral thesis in clinical psychology with Queen’s University Belfast. The study’s aim is to find out whether reducing “screen” use in the hour before bedtime has an impact on sleep in children who have insomnia. The term “screen” includes electronic devices such as, mobile phones, tablets, TVs, e-readers, etc. The study’s rationale is that although there seems to be a link between screen use and poor sleep in children, it is unclear whether screen use causes poor sleep. To participate in this study, a child must, 1) be between the 5 and 10 years old, 2) be experiencing difficulties related to getting to sleep or staying asleep (i.e., insomnia), 3) currently use screens 30 minutes prior to bedtime on 5 days per week, and 4) have no history of skin irritation. Participants will be recruited from the community paediatric sleep review clinic in the Western Health and Social Care Trust. This will be the main site alone.
The study will use a repeated time-series single-case experimental design. Once recruited an initial face-to-face session will be organised for parents to complete baseline questionnaires and will be shown how to complete daily sleep and activity diaries about their child. The child will be fit with an actigraph (watch-like device) to monitor their sleep. During the first week of the study, parents will complete daily diaries while keeping their child’s usual bedtime routine. During the second week, they will implement the rule “no screens 1 hour before bedtime or during the night” with their child and continue to record daily diaries. This two-week cycle will be repeated twice more for a total of 6 weeks. Weekly check-in calls will support families during the study. Questionnaires will be administered in a final face-to-face debriefing meeting.REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SW/0044
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion