An Interactive School Sleep Education Program

The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of a class-based interactive Sleep Education Program in improving sleep behavior of secondary school students. The Sleep Education Program is designed by sleep experts from our laboratory, and is aimed at educating students about the importance of sleep and good sleep habits, as well as addressing their attitudes towards sleep, in order to encourage behavior change. Participants will be randomly assigned to the Sleep Education Program or a Control Program. All participants will undergo four weekly class-based lessons, which use video presentations, in-class activities, discussions and take-home assignments to deliver the materials. Each lesson has set goals to achieve. Participants in the Sleep Education Program will learn about the importance of sleep, what factors may prevent them from getting enough sleep, how they can manage their time to create more opportunity for sleep, and how they can overcome obstacles to time management. Emphasis will be placed on how sleep affects each student personally, and how each person can benefit from improving sleep. Participants in the Control Program will undergo a similarly structured class-based program, during which they will learn about various general health-related topics. However, the Control Program is designed in such a way that it does not cover any topics related to sleep. Data will be collected from participants from both groups. The following variables are measured: sleep habits, sleep knowledge, daytime functioning, mood and app-tracked time use. Data on all measurements will be collected at three time points: pre-program, immediately post-program and during a 1-month follow-up. Results will be compared between the three time points, as well as between the two groups (Sleep Education Program and Control Program). By comparing results from the Sleep Education Program to the Control Program, we can evaluate the effect of educating students about sleep on improving sleep behavior.