Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders and affects approximately 10 - 40% of the population across different age groups in Hong Kong. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first line treatment for adult insomnia due to its comparable effect to medication in short term but is more sustainable in the long run. However, only a few sufferers have received CBT-I, due to limited accessibility, lack of trained sleep therapists, time costing and geographical limitations. To increase CBT-I accessibility, different formats of CBT-I have been proposed. Empirical evidence including ours consistently suggested that self-help digital CBT-I is effective in improving sleep while its augmentation with a guided approach could further enhance the treatment gain. Previous evidence has suggested that although self-help CBT-I could lead to positive outcomes, the drop out rate is quite high and maybe less effective for patients with comorbidity or high level of distress. Thus, a stepped-care approach to CBT-I that utilizes online self help and therapist-guided modes of delivery might be a potential way to facilitate efficient dissemination of effective insomnia treatment resources. The effectiveness of the stepped care model will be evaluated in a real world setting using stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled design. The program will be rolled out to different districts in Hong Kong sequentially in 18 districts over 4 steps with a eqaully spaced time periods.
This interventional study will be a multicenter, assessor-blinded, pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. A total of 18 districts will be included in the study and the randomization will be carried out based on the districts. The stepped-care CBT-I intervention will be sequentially rolled out to the 4-6 districts per step according to a computer-generated random number while the remaining clusters will continue to stay unexposed to the CBT-I intervention over the control period. Therefore after 4-step exposure, all clusters will receive the stepped-care CBT-I intervention. A total of 3 follow-up assessments (post intervention, 3-month and 12-month follow up) will be conducted to assess the effectiveness and long-term effects of the stepped care model.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
1,100
CBT-I intervention will be provided to participants once their districts are exposed.
Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
RECRUITINGInsomnia severity index
The primary outcome will be the perceived insomnia severity measured by Insomnia Severity Index (ISI).
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Severity of depression
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) will be used to measure the severity of depression.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Severity of anxiety
General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) will be used to measure the severity of anxiety.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Health-related quality of life
The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) will be measured by the EuroQol-5D (EQ).
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Chronic insomnia diagnosis
A checklist based on Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders will be implemented to measure the incidence of chronic insomnia.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Medication usage
A checklist will be used to measure the subject's medication usage change over the past 3 months.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Clinical global impression
Clinical Global Impression (CGI) will be used to assess the overall improvement or change in a patient's condition over time.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Patient-report clinical global impression
A single-item CGI will be used to ask the participant whether they experience sleep improvement or change over the past week or not.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Sleep duration
Two self-report questions will be used to record the sleep duration during weekdays and weekends of the participants.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Subjective sleep as measured by sleep diary
Self-report sleep diary will be used to record subjective sleep of the participants including total time in bed, sleep onset latency, total sleep duration, sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Healthcare resource use
The use and expense of sleep-promoting medication, psychotherapy, and other complementary treatments for sleep improvement over the past 3 months will be collected from individual participants using a self-developed questionnaire, with a focus on their healthcare resource utilization.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
Work and social functioning
A 5-item questionnaire developed from Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) will be used to measure the daytime functioning of the participants such as ability to work, home management, social and private leisure activities, and close relationship maintenance.
Time frame: Post-intervention (ranging from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, depending on the treatment level), 3-month post-intervention and 12-month post-intervention follow up
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