Reducing Sleep Disparities in Minority Children

Summary

Inadequate sleep is a major health problem of childhood that often fails to receive attention until significant neurobehavioral and other health problems are noted. Although adequate sleep is essential for normal growth and brain development, studies show that children from minority and economically disadvantaged families are more likely to experience shorter sleep times and more sleep fragmentation compared to their Caucasian and economically advantaged counterparts. As a result, they are disproportionately affected by the adverse health and quality of life consequences of poor sleep. There are currently no intervention studies to the investigators knowledge aimed at addressing sleep disparities by improving sleep duration and sleep hygiene in early school-aged children from minority populations. This study seeks to close the 'sleep gap' that exists between the sleep duration of minority school-aged children and that of their non-minority peers. An interdisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians from Columbia University's Pediatric Lung and Sleep Disorders Center, School of Public Health, Psychiatry Department, and two outpatient clinic systems affiliated with Columbia are collaborating to reduce sleep disparities by improving sleep duration in a group of 5-6 year old minority children. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a tailored, interactive, educational and behavioral intervention that utilizes trained sleep counselors to assist parents in improving their children's sleep hygiene and reducing risk factors for poor sleep, thereby increasing sleep duration over a 12-month period in a randomized controlled trial of children identified with sleep problems (Aim 1). The investigators will screen 375 parents of 5-6 year old children from 5 primary care clinics to identify children with and without sleep problems and enroll 90 of the 375 children screened who have sleep problems in a randomized controlled trial of an in-home sleep intervention. Using an initial home assessment, baseline actigraphy data, sleep logs recorded by parents, and information regarding risk factors for poor sleep collected from each family during screening, the investigators will work with intervention parents to develop a personalized sleep plan for their children. The investigators will evaluate the effect of the intervention on: a) nightly sleep duration; b) neurocognitive function; and c) behavioral disorders.

Conditions

• Sleep

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sleep Counselor Intervention

Families in the sleep counselor arm of the study will receive 3 scheduled home visits by a trained sleep counselor during the first 3 months following enrollment. Two optional home visits may be scheduled to help families encountering ongoing barriers to improving their child's sleep. The intervention will be provided by trained, bilingual, culturally competent sleep counselors, who will assess home sleep conditions, work with the family to teach them how to improve sleep hygiene and the sleep environment, provide equipment as needed to improve the sleep environment (e.g. nightlight, inflatable bed, window shade, etc.) and guide the family to begin setting goals and making decisions to initiate and sustain behavioral and environmental changes to improve sleep.

OTHER

Sleep Education Control

The control group will receive a low intensity intervention that provides information about sleep and the benefits of adequate sleep. We will give parents the National Sleep Foundation's handout, "Information about Children's Sleep for Parents and Teachers"

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

  collaborator NIH

• Columbia University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Beverley J Sheares, MD, MS · Columbia University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Months

Max Age

87 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-07-31

Primary Completion

2014-08-31

Completion

2014-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations