EVALUATING THE ABCS OF SLEEPING MOBILE HEALTH SMARTPHONE APPLICATION DESIGNED FOR PARENTS OF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: AN END-USER APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Insomnia symptoms are prevalent among school-age children, yet there are few accessible evidence-based treatment programs, and hence there is an “evidence-to-practice gap”. This dissertation examines the development and evaluation of a smartphone application (mHealth “app”), the “ABCs of SLEEPING”, taking a user-centered approach involving key end-users (parents and healthcare providers). The app provides sleep evaluation and recommendations to parents to help improve their children’s sleep. Guided by Bowen et al.’s (2009) framework, a feasibility study (Study 1; n = 23), pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) (Study 2; n = 28), and a barriers and facilitators to implementation study (Study 3; n = 33) were conducted. This research has prepared the ABCs of SLEEPING for full-scale effectiveness testing and results suggest a focus on improving sleep health. Given promising results from these three studies, the app has potential to close the “evidence-to-practice gap” and improve school-aged children’s overall sleep health.