Dyadic sleep intervention for adult patients with cancer and their sleep-partner caregivers: A feasibility study.

Abstract

Sleep disturbances are common among adult patients with cancer and their caregivers. To our knowledge, no sleep intervention to date has been designed to be provided to both patients with cancer and their caregivers simultaneously. This single-arm study aimed to pilot test the feasibility and acceptability, and to illustrate the preliminary efficacy on sleep efficiency of the newly developed dyadic sleep intervention, My Sleep Our Sleep (MSOS: NCT04712604). Adult patients who were newly diagnosed with a gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and their sleep-partner caregivers (n=20 persons: 10 dyads, 64years old, 60% female patients, 20% Hispanic, 28years relationship duration), both of whom had at least mild levels of sleep disturbance (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]≥5) participated in this study. MSOS intervention consists of four 1-hour weekly sessions delivered using Zoom to the patient-caregiver dyad together. We were able to enroll 92.9% of the eligible and screened patient-caregiver dyads within 4months. Participants reported high satisfaction in 8 domains (average 4.76 on a 1-5 rating). All participants agreed that the number of sessions, interval (weekly), and delivery mode (Zoom) were optimal. Participants also preferred attending the intervention with their partners. Both patients and caregivers showed improvement in sleep efficiency after completing the MSOS intervention: Cohen's d=1.04 and 1.47, respectively. Results support the feasibility and acceptability, as well as provide the preliminary efficacy of MSOS for adult patients with GI cancer and their sleep-partner caregivers. Findings suggest the need for more rigorous controlled trial designs for further efficacy testing of MSOS intervention.