Insomnia is a prevalent health problem and frequent complaint of older adults. The majority of research in the non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia has focused on young and middle-aged adults while only a small number of studies have evaluated treatment for late-life insomnia. Knowledge of the intervention or combination of interventions best suited for older adults is limited. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare the efficacy of single interventions (stimulus control instructions, sleep restriction therapy) and multi- component intervention (stimulus control instructions and sleep restriction therapy) for sleep maintenance insomnia in community dwelling older adults. The study will incorporate multiple sleep measures to determine the short and long-term effects of the interventions on sleep outcomes. The efficiency of the interventions, intervention dosage, compliance with treatment and clinical significance of the outcomes will be addressed. The long-term goal of the research is to provide clinically significant and applicable non-pharmacological, theory driven intervention that effectively addresses the specific insomnia problems of older adulthood. One hundred eighty community dwelling older adults with sleep maintenance insomnia will participate in a randomized controlled study using a waiting-list design. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: (a) multi- component intervention, (b) stimulus control instructions, (c) sleep restriction therapy, or (d) waiting-list control. There will be a 2- week baseline period, a 6-week treatment period, and a 2-week post- treatment period. The waiting-list subjects will receive treatment after the immediate treatment groups have completed their treatment and immediate post-treatment phases. Follow up evaluation will occur for 2-week periods at 3 and 12 months post-treatment. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be used to accomplish the specific aims of the study.
| Epstein, Dana R; Sidani, Souraya; Bootzin, Richard R et al. (2012) Dismantling multicomponent behavioral treatment for insomnia in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep 35:797-805 |
| Sidani, Souraya; Epstein, Dana R; Moritz, Patricia (2003) An alternative paradigm for clinical nursing research: an exemplar. Res Nurs Health 26:244-55 |
| Epstein, Dana R; Bootzin, Richard R (2002) Insomnia. Nurs Clin North Am 37:611-31 |
