Sleep Health in U.S. Marines

Summary

The goal of this study is to test a sleep health program designed specifically for U.S. Marine Corps personnel. Researchers want to determine if this program helps Marines improve the participants sleep quality and overall mental health. The study will evaluate whether the program improves sleep quality and duration and reduces symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide ideation. There are three distinct sleep health programs that will be evaluated; participants will be randomly assigned to one of five groups to receive different combinations of the sleep health programs. To measure results, researchers will use participant surveys for all enrolled participants and wearable sleep-tracking devices for a sub-set of participants. The study team expects that Marines who receive the most comprehensive version of the program will show the greatest improvements in sleep and psychological well-being.

Conditions

• Depression
• Suicidality
• Sleep

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sleep Leadership

This classroom-style educational training was designed by Adler and colleagues (2021) specifically for Army leaders, based on research showing that perceptions of their leader's sleep-related behaviors can impact unit member's sleep (Gunia et al., 2015). The one-hour training includes a combination of PowerPoint slides, video clips, and handouts with content targeting five leader behaviors denoted using the acronym "SLEEP": Set conditions for adequate sleep through work stress mitigation and environmental conditions; Lead by example; Educate Soldiers about caffeine, alcohol, and substances; Encourage awareness and responsibility among Soldiers; Prioritize sleep and recovery during and after missions.

BEHAVIORAL

Circadian, Light, and Sleep Skills in Shipboard Military (CLASS-MC) Personnel Program

CLASS-MC is a sleep and circadian health-focused educational program originally designed for shipboard Sailors (Schmied et al., 2022) adapted in the current study for Marines. CLASS-MC includes a 30-minute presentation that is delivered in-person. The curriculum includes information on the purpose and benefits of sleep, basic information about circadian health, and detailed and feasible strategies for how to maximize sleep and circadian health in operational conditions.

BEHAVIORAL

Insomnia Coach

This intervention is a mobile app developed by researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA; Kuhn et al., 2022). Insomnia Coach is based on principles of CBT-I, and includes various content modules, such as a daily sleep diary, psychoeducation, and personalized feedback recommendations provided by a feature called "Sleep Coach" (Kuhn et al., 2022).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

  collaborator FED

• Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research

  collaborator OTHER

• San Diego State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Emily Schmied, PhD · [email protected]

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-03-31

Primary Completion

2027-06-30

Completion

2027-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations