A brief behavioural sleep intervention for children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: In-person or online?

The Sleeping Sound intervention (Sciberras et al., 2010) consists of two 50-minute consultation sessions, two weeks apart, and a brief follow-up phone call for the child and their parent(s). This intervention has previously been evaluated in children with ADHD and sleep problems, in a face-to-face delivery (Hiscock et al., 2015; Sciberras et al., 2020). However, the present trial will examine intervention effectiveness based on mode of delivery, i.e., in-person vs. online (via Zoom). The intervention will be delivered by a provisional psychologist (clinical psychology or clinical neuropsychology), under the supervision of experienced clinical psychologists. The sessions will provide the children and their families with psychoeducation about appropriate sleep, and useful skills and techniques to establish to improve sleep challenges. The techniques provided will be tailored to the child's specific sleep challenges. Attendance and session duration will be monitored. Materials will be provided to assist in information delivery. These include handouts about normal sleep, sleep cycles and sleep hygiene practices, and handouts for specific sleep challenges relevant to the child participant. The handouts were specifically designed for the Sleeping Sound programme. During the intervention sessions, the provisional psychologist will briefly discuss the handouts provided. The parents will be advised to review the handouts as much or as little as they feel is necessary. Parents will also be provided with a sleep diary to complete from the first intervention session up to the follow-up phone call. They will be advised to bring this to the second intervention session and have it with them during the follow-up phone call. References: Hiscock, H., Sciberras, E., Mensah, F., Gerner, B., Efron, D., Khano, S., & Oberklaid, F. (2015). Impact of a behavioural sleep intervention on symptoms and sleep in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and parental mental health: Randomised controlled trial. BMJ, 350, h68. Sciberras, E., Efron, D., Gerner, B., Davey, M., Mensah, F., Oberklaid, F., & Hiscock, H. (2010). Study protocol: The sleeping sound with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder project. BMC Pediatrics, 10(1), 1-9. Sciberras, E., Mulraney, M., Mensah, F., Oberklaid, F., Efron, D., & Hiscock, H. (2020). Sustained impact of a sleep intervention and moderators of treatment outcome for children with ADHD: A randomised controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 50(2), 210-219.