< Back to previous page

Project

ADHD specific sleep intervention to improve sleep, ADHD symptoms and related problems in adolescents with ADHD

Up to 72% of adolescents with ADHD experience sleep problems (Langberg et al., 2017), which are likely to be bidirectionally causally related to increased ADHD symptom impairment (Becker et al., 2019), and causally related to oppositional, depressive symptomatology (Becker et al., 2020) and functional impairments (Langberg et al., 2013). Sleep problems become more prevalent over the lifespan. Thus, reducing sleep problems is an important intervention target. However, there is no evidence-based cognitive behavioral sleep treatment available for adolescents with ADHD, although proof of principle exists for school-aged children with ADHD (e.g. Hiscock et al., 2015), typically developing adolescents (de Bruin et al., 2015) and adults with ADHD (Jernelöv et al., 2019). Sleep problems in adolescents with ADHD may have received little attention due to the difficulty providing treatment for them; they have severe problems with organization, resisting immediate temptations, motivational difficulties, and are noted for treatment drop-out. Sleep-focused treatment would benefit from adaptation towards this developmental phase and disorder to increase effectiveness. Therefore, in this doctoral research, a new CBT sleep intervention specifically developed for adolescents with ADHD, integrating motivational interviewing, planning and organizational skills and sleep interventions, will be investigated.

First, a thorough understanding of the current knowledge on sleep in adolescents with ADHD compared to typically developing adolescents has been investigated in a systematic review and meta-analysis, hereby specifically sleep architecture (measured both objectively and subjectively), sleep problems and sleep hygiene was investigated.

Second, a qualitative and quantitative pilot study has been conducted to evaluate a new blended CBT sleep intervention specifically developed for adolescents with ADHD, called SIESTA which stands for Sleep IntervEntion as Symptom Treatment for ADHD. Additionally, the feasibility of the research procedure has been evaluated. The final aim of this pilot study was to fine-tune the intervention manual and assessment protocol to the target population and field.

Third, a randomized controlled trial will be conducted to investigate whether SIESTA in combination with Treatment As Usual (TAU) is more effective than TAU only in improving sleep hygiene practices, sleep problems, ADHD symptoms and related problems in adolescents with ADHD. Objectively and subjectively measured sleep and other outcomes will be compared before (pretest) and after the intervention (posttest). Moreover, it will be investigated whether this intervention is effective on the middle-long term (approximately 4 months). Changes in objectively and subjectively measured sleep and other outcomes, e.g. ADHD symptomatology, will be investigated 1) before (pretest) and approximately four months after the intervention (follow-up) and 2) between directly after (posttest) and approximately four months after the intervention (follow-up). Additionally, possible moderators will be investigated to gain insight into for which adolescents sleep treatment works best.

Date:15 Jan 2020 →  15 Jan 2024
Keywords:Sleep, ADHD
Disciplines:Clinical and counselling psychology not elsewhere classified, Behavioural sciences
Project type:PhD project