Maintaining Behavior Change: An Evaluation of a Habit-based Sleep Health Intervention

The study will test a sleep-health intervention that leverages the science on habit formation. Additionally, the investigators will evaluate whether adding a text messaging intervention improves habit formation. The participants will be 18-30 years old. This is a distinct developmental period in which priorities shift toward self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, which are supported by developing adaptive habits. Main Aim. To evaluate if adding a text messaging intervention, derived from learning theory, to HABITs improves the utilization of sleep health behavior and improves sleep and circadian outcomes and functioning in the five health-relevant domain outcomes in the short (post-treatment) and longer term (6 and 12-months later), relative to HABITs without text messaging. Main Hypothesis. Relative to HABITs, youth in HABITs+Texts will (a) establish stronger sleep health behavior habits, (b) report utilizing more sleep health behaviors and (c) exhibit improved sleep and circadian functioning and lower health-relevant risk. These effects will be observed at post-treatment as well as 6 and 12-months later. Exploratory Aim: To evaluate if the Habit-based Sleep Health Intervention ('HABITs') is associated with an improvement in the utilization of sleep health behavior, an improvement in sleep and circadian outcomes and an improvement in functioning in the five health-relevant domain outcomes in the short (post-treatment) and longer term (6 and 12-months later), relative to baseline. Exploratory Hypothesis. Combining across the HABITs and HABITs+Texts treatment arms, receiving either intervention will be associated with (a) improved sleep health behavior habits, (b) more utilization of sleep health behaviors, (c) improved sleep and circadian functioning and (d) lower health-relevant risk at post-treatment, 6- and 12-month follow-up, relative to baseline. Additional exploratory analyses: To examine (a) if sleep health behavior that has become habitual mediates the effects of treatment on improvement in sleep, circadian and health outcomes and (b) if intervention effects are moderated by selected variables (e.g., age, sex, minority group, socioeconomic status (SES), season).