Abstract
University students consistently report poor sleep. We conducted a before-and-after study to evaluate the impact of an online 10-week course on undergraduate students’ sleep knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours at 6-month follow-up. Data were collected via baseline course surveys (August–September 2020) and follow-up surveys distributed via email (February–March 2021). n = 212 students completed baseline surveys and n = 75 (35%) completed follow-up. Students retained to follow-up possessed higher baseline sleep knowledge and received higher course grades. At the 6-month follow-up, sleep knowledge had increased (mean score out of 5: 3.0 vs. 4.2, p < 0.001). At baseline, 85% of students aimed to increase their sleep knowledge and 83% aimed to improve their sleep. At follow-up, 91% reported being more knowledgeable and 37% reported improved sleep. A novel Stages of Change item revealed that 53% of students’ attitudes towards their sleep behaviours had changed from baseline. There was a reduction in sleep latency at follow-up (mean 33.3 vs. 25.6 min, p = 0.015), but no change in the total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score. In summary, completion of an online course led to increased sleep and circadian knowledge and changed sleep attitudes, with no meaningful change in sleep behaviours. Future interventions should consider components of behavioural change that go beyond the knowledge–attitudes–behaviour continuum.
Highlights
Sleep is vital for maintaining optimum health and quality of life
These findings are of serious concern, because approximately 60% of college students report poor sleep quality, 27% are at risk of at least one sleep disorder, and rates of insomnia range from 9.4% to
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) sleeper type, chronotype, shift work completed in the past month), Fisher’s exact test was used where there were cell sizes smaller than 5, and independent-samples t-tests were used to test for differences in the means of continuous variables
Summary
Sleep is vital for maintaining optimum health and quality of life. For young adults (18–25 years), sleep is crucial for facilitating academic success [1,2,3]. Cognitive barriers to academic success are often compounded by sleep-related psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders [5] These findings are of serious concern, because approximately 60% of college students report poor sleep quality, 27% are at risk of at least one sleep disorder, and rates of insomnia range from 9.4% to. By intentionally facilitating and capturing shifts in sleep knowledge and attitudes, educators can better foster movement towards healthier sleep behaviours for all students no matter their existing sleep practices. This before-and-after study sought to determine whether completion of an interactive and online educational course on sleep and circadian rhythms improves (1) sleep knowledge,. (2) attitudes towards changing sleep behaviours, and (3) sleep behaviours in university students at the 6-month follow-up
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