Despite rising cases of COVID-19 in the United States of America, several states are easing restrictions (e.g., relaxing physical distancing requirements, reopening businesses) that were imposed to ...limit community transmission of the virus. Individuals hold differing opinions regarding whether restrictions should continue to be imposed or lifted, evidenced, for example, by debate and protests regarding reopening of businesses and venues. Health and social psychological research suggest that perceptions of COVID-19related risk, experiences of the virus, and individual difference factors can help explain individuals' attitudes towards health initiatives and their tendency to be persuaded towards a specific course of action. The purpose of this study was to investigate what factors influence support or opposition to easing COVID-19-related restrictions. A sample of 350 United States citizens, responding to an anonymous survey, were asked about the extent to which they support/oppose easing of COVID-19-related restrictions, both generally and in relation to specific restrictions. Respondents completed measures of their experiences of COVID-19, individual difference factors, and demographic variables, including political affiliation and degree of social and economic conservatism. In a series of regression analyses, significant demographic predictors of support or opposition for easing restrictions were gender, age, ethnicity, and education, with political affiliation and degree of social and economic conservatism also predicting attitudes. Experiences related to COVID-19 that predicted attitudes were concerns for self and family, perceptions of threat posed by the virus, perceived ability to adhere to restrictions, willingness to take government direction, and belief in COVID-19-related conspiracy theories. At an individual differences level, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, long-term orientation, masculinity, empathic concern, personal distress, reactance, and general conspiracy theory beliefs all significantly precited attitudes to easing restrictions. Understanding the factors that help explain attitudes towards COVID-19 restrictions can inform how best to position health messaging and initiatives going forward, particularly as states or countries open borders.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary Sleep duration and quality are associated with a range of neuropsychological and psychosocial outcomes in children and adolescents but community awareness of this is low. A small body of ...literature on sleep education programs in children and adolescents delivered through school-based programs is attempting to address this. A review of the literature found only 8 studies and 4 pilot studies in abstract form. This paper presents these sleep education programs and evaluates their effectiveness. In general, findings suggest that when sleep knowledge was measured it was increased in most programs. However this did not necessarily equate to sleep behaviour change such as increased sleep duration or improved sleep hygiene. Reasons for this are discussed and may include motivation and readiness to change, salience to the individual, delivery, content, time allocation, or methodological underpinnings. This paper attempts to understand this and assess how best to improve future sleep education programs from a theoretical perspective. Specifically, it considers the theory of planned behaviour which may assist in ensuring maximum efficacy for the current and future development of sleep education programs.
There is a common belief that children are not getting enough sleep and that children's total sleep time has been declining. Over the century, many authors have proposed sleep recommendations. The ...aim of this study was to describe historical trends in recommended and actual sleep durations for children and adolescents, and to explore the rationale of sleep recommendations.
A systematic literature review was conducted to identify recommendations for children's sleep requirements and data reporting children's actual total sleep time. For each recommendation identified, children's actual sleep time was determined by identifying studies reporting the sleep duration of children of the same age, gender, and country in the same years. Historical trends in age-adjusted recommended sleep times and trends in children's actual sleep time were calculated. A thematic analysis was conducted to determine the rationale and evidence-base for recommendations.
Thirty-two sets of recommendations were located dating from 1897 to 2009. On average, age-specific recommended sleep decreased at the rate of -0.71 minute per year. This rate of decline was almost identical to the decline in the actual sleep duration of children (-0.73 minute per year). Recommended sleep was consistently ∼37 minutes greater than actual sleep, although both declined over time.
A lack of empirical evidence for sleep recommendations was universally acknowledged. Inadequate sleep was seen as a consequence of "modern life," associated with technologies of the time. No matter how much sleep children are getting, it has always been assumed that they need more.
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that portable electronic device use in bed after lights out has on sleep/wake behaviour within an adult population. Specifically, this study aimed ...to (1) identify patterns of use of electronic devices in bed; (2) examine the relationship between electronic device use in bed and sleep/wake behaviour; and (3) examine the impact of demographic variables on electronic device use in bed. Using a cross-sectional design, telephone interviews were conducted with 1,225 participants (52% female). Survey questions asked about participant demographic variables, their sleep/wake history, and their pre-sleep behaviours, which included electronic device usage. Forty-two percent of participants reported using electronic devices in bed after lights out, and 27% of adults who reported ‘always’ using electronic devices in bed were spending over an hour per night using them. Sleep characteristics were significantly different in device users compared to non-device users (
p
< 0.001). Frequency of device use was associated with later sleep times, and duration of device use was associated with shorter sleep duration and decreased sleep quality. Older adults were less likely to use devices in bed after lights out, and had less duration of usage. Electronic device use in bed was found to reduce sleep duration and sleep quality in adults. To further our understanding of the impact device use in bed has on adult sleep behaviour, future studies should consider employing objective measurements of both sleep behaviour and device usage.
Boarding schools, by definition, house students in residence either on campus or close by in residential facilities - where the sleep environment is likely to differ from their home environment. For ...boarders, being in the boarding environment occurs alongside a convergence of psychosocial and physiological factors likely to impact adolescent sleep. This paper comprises a review of the literature on sleep and boarding students in the Australian context. We also propose recommendations aligned with the scientific evidence base that can be used to promote healthy sleep in Australian boarding school students, focusing on staff training and sleep knowledge, daily routines, sleeping arrangements, and student mental health and wellbeing. It must be noted that these recommendations should be considered interim recommendations until further research is performed in the area. Further, we suggest the development of standardised practice guidelines, to ensure that student sleep is supported appropriately within the Australian boarding context.
Issue addressed: Insufficient sleep and unhealthy sleep practices in adolescents are associated with significant health risks. Sleep education programs in schools aim to improve sleep behaviour. A ...new eLearning sleep education program, Healthy Sleep for Healthy Schools (HS4HS), was developed focused on these goals and is distinguishable from other sleep education programs because it is delivered by teachers, making it more sustainable and adaptable for schools. We aimed to evaluate if HS4HS would improve student sleep knowledge, healthy sleep practices, sleep duration and reduce sleepiness. We also aimed to understand if this intervention could be successfully implemented by trained teachers. Methods: Teachers trained in sleep delivered HS4HS to 64 South Australian students in year 9 (aged 13-14 years) over 6 weeks during regular school curriculum. A sleep education survey assessing sleep patterns (such as healthy sleep practices, time in bed and sleepiness), and a sleep knowledge questionnaire was completed pre-and post-HS4HS delivery. Evaluations were also completed by teachers. Results: Sleep knowledge and healthy sleep practices significantly improved post intervention. Time in bed on both school days and weekends increased slightly and sleepiness decreased slightly, but these changes were not statistically significant. Teachers found the program useful, comprehensive and easy to incorporate into their curricula. Conclusions: After short training, teachers can deliver sleep education during class and improve sleep practices in their students. This suggests that this program may offer potential as an effective and useful resource for teachers wanting to include sleep health in their curriculum. So what?: Sleep is the foundation of good health and teachers can promote and integrate sleep education into their curricula for the first time with this online teacher focussed program, which has the potential to be a sustainable sleep health promotion resource.
Background It has been estimated that more than one-third of university students suffer from insomnia. Few accessible eHealth sleep education programmes exist for university students and of the ones ...that do exist, fewer were developed using a user-centred approach, which allows for student input to be systematically collected and utilized to provide students with a programme that they consider to be easy to use and implement and to be effective. Better Nights, Better Days-Youth ( BNBD-Youth) is a four-session eHealth sleep education programme designed for youth but previously only evaluated in younger adolescents (ages 14–18 years). Aims The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usability of the BNBD-Youth programme with university students using Morville's User Experience Honeycomb framework to determine if this programme would meet the needs of university students and if so what modifications would be needed. Methods Canadian undergraduate students ( n = 46) completed the BNBD-Youth programme. Students completed online usability questionnaires based on the seven dimensions of Morville's User Experience Honeycomb (i.e. useful, usable, valuable, credible, desirable, accessible and findable) after each session and after completion of the programme. Open- and closed-ended questions were used to obtain both quantitative and qualitative responses. Results Average quantitative ratings were positive across user experience dimensions, ranging from 3.43 to 4.46 (out of 5). Qualitative responses indicated overall positive experiences with the programme. The only constructive feedback that met the criteria for revising the programme was to include more interactive features in Session 4. Conclusions This study demonstrates that university students found BNBD-Youth to be a usable programme for older youth. Demonstrating usability is an essential step in developing a programme with a user-centred design that university students will want to use in the future. Once the BNBD-Youth programme is revised to create the BNBD-University ( BNBD-Uni) programme, additional usability and effectiveness testing will be conducted.
ObjectivesShiftworkers routinely obtain inadequate sleep, which has major health consequences. Sleep hygiene describes a range of behaviours, lifestyle and environmental factors that can improve ...sleep. To date, limited research has examined sleep hygiene in shiftworkers. This study aimed to assess the sociodemographic and behavioural correlates of sleep hygiene knowledge and engagement with sleep hygiene practices in Australian shiftworkers.Study designAn online, cross-sectional survey.Setting and participantsAustralian adults from across multiple industries (n=588) who work shift work.MeasuresThe online survey included questions regarding sleep hygiene knowledge and questions from modified versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Sleep Hygiene Index.ResultsOf the 588 participants, 52.9% reported having heard of ‘sleep hygiene’. Of these participants, 77.5% reported understanding the term moderately, extremely or very well. Engagement with each sleep hygiene practice was varied. Common sleep hygiene practices were controlling the bedroom environment (eg, a cool, dark and quiet bedroom). Less common practices were avoiding light as bedtime approaches. Logistic regressions revealed that shiftworkers who had heard of sleep hygiene were more likely to engage in sleep hygiene practices and had better sleep quality compared with those who had not heard of sleep hygiene. Increased engagement in sleep hygiene practices did not predict the likelihood of individuals reporting better sleep quality.ConclusionsShiftworkers demonstrated varied knowledge, understanding and engagement with individual sleep hygiene practices. Future research should focus on the development of sleep hygiene interventions that accommodate the unique challenges of shift work to optimise sleep.
Introduction: Adolescence is a developmental stage that often coincides with increasing sleep problems. Focus groups were conducted to inform development of an adolescent eHealth sleep intervention ...by exploring opinions about (1) healthy sleep practices, and (2) using an eHealth intervention. Methods: Adolescents 14–18 years old experiencing symptoms of insomnia based on the Insomnia Sleep Index, with and without recurrent pain, and associated stakeholders (i.e., parents, school personnel, and health care providers) were recruited. Across six online focus groups, 24 adolescents with insomnia participated (14 pain-free, 10 with recurrent pain; 10 male, 14 female). Across seven online focus groups, 22 stakeholders participated, including 8 parents, 9 school professionals, and 5 health care providers (10 male, 8 female). Using a content analysis, subthemes were induced from transcripts. Results: Most healthy sleep practices were perceived as reasonable for adolescents to implement, except avoiding technology before bed and using bedrooms only for sleep. Three primary barriers to sleep practices were identified, including a variable schedule due to lifestyle factors, technology at night, and academics interfering with sleep, and only in the pain group, the barrier related to pain was identified. Content addressing adolescent-specific barriers was considered important to include in a sleep intervention. Desirable eHealth components included interactive features, videos, audio, and pictures to present information. A common barrier to using an eHealth sleep intervention was the program feeling too academic, with accessibility of the sleep information and strategies as a common facilitator. Conclusions: This research represents the first step in a user-centered approach to developing an adolescent eHealth sleep intervention. These results provide insights from a range of perspectives on guiding adolescents to follow healthy sleep practices. Next, these findings will be integrated in the development of an eHealth intervention for adolescents with and without recurrent pain.
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