Sleep Tight: An evaluation of a community based intervention on the sleep behaviours of young children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of Sleep Tight, a behavioural sleep programme, on child sleep problems and family wellbeing. A service evaluation of 40 families with a child aged 0–12 years who completed Sleep Tight through Sure Start children's centres was performed. A before and after within-subjects design was used and outcomes assessed using the Sleep Disturbance Index ( Quine, 1991 ). Evidence of a statistical effect was found for settling, night waking, sleeping in parents' bed, and parents up at night. On average, children had 2.5 hours more sleep per night after the intervention. Parents reported changes in family life and child's daytime behaviour. The findings support the use of Sleep Tight as an effective, time-limited behavioural sleep programme.