Evaluating Worksite Sleep Health Coaching in Firefighters: The Sleep Assistance for Firefighters Study
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: firefighter Sleep Health Coaching Intervention (ffSHC), Control (Minimally Enhanced Usual Care).
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Assessing Clinical Effectiveness and Implementation of Worksite Sleep Health Coaching in Firefighters
Overview
Insufficient sleep is a significant public health issue, particularly affecting shift workers like firefighters, nearly half of whom report short or poor-quality sleep, with 35-40% screening positive for sleep disorders. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) is a recommended and effective treatment, but access to such interventions remains low. This study will recruit 20 fire agencies in Arizona (400 firefighters) to test if a CBTi-informed intervention, including sleep health coaching and agency-wide promotion, improves sleep more effectively than usual care. The trial will also explore factors that influence successful implementation across agencies.
Detailed description
Insufficient sleep is a major public health crisis in the United States and worldwide, disproportionately affecting shift workers and other at-risk groups. Firefighters are one such group at heightened risk for disturbed sleep. Almost half of career firefighters report short sleep and poor sleep quality, and 35-40% of firefighters screen positive for a sleep disorder.
Evidence-based sleep health interventions are available and highly effective in eliciting behavioral change. The American College of Physicians recommends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) as the first-line treatment for Insomnia Disorder, and substantial evidence supports the efficacy of this therapy with comorbid conditions, including shiftwork and obstructive sleep apnea. Unfortunately, access to CBT-informed sleep health interventions remains low. Workplace wellness programs could be one way to help more firefighters receive sleep intervention.
This study will recruit 20 fire agencies in Arizona (n = 400 career firefighters) to examine whether a CBTi-informed intervention is more effective than usual care in reducing sleep disturbances or improving multidimensional sleep health. The intervention will last one year and will include telephone-administered sleep health coaching to firefighters, sleep health promotion to the agency and agency leaders, and external/internal facilitation strategies for implementation. The trial will also examine which combinations of factors are associated with successful agency implementation of the intervention. All participating agencies will receive the intervention; however, some agencies will wait longer to receive the intervention than others.
Interventions
- Behavioral firefighter Sleep Health Coaching Intervention (ffSHC)
This multi-component intervention is based on principles of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It includes telephone-based sleep health coaching to individuals, targeted training and sleep health education to fire service leaders, agency-level sleep health promotion, and facilitation strategies to internal facilitators. - Behavioral Control (Minimally Enhanced Usual Care)
The control arm is minimally enhanced usual care. Usual care interventions for sleep disturbance include any health or wellness interventions administered by the agency on the topic of sleep, including occupational health intervention, employee assistance programs, education, signage, and webinars. The type and dose of care will be assessed at each timepoint. Minimal enhancement is a referral to the agency's Employee Assistance Program and will address the ethical problem in the control conditio
Primary outcome measures
- PROMIS Sleep Disturbance questionnaire [Time frame: 6 assessments, 6 months apart]
- Multidimensional sleep health (MSH) composite [Time frame: 6 assessments, 6 months apart]
Secondary outcome measures (3)
- PROMIS Sleep Related Impairment questionnaire [Time frame: 6 assessments, 6 months apart]
- Wake time after sleep onset (WASO), min - actigraphy [Time frame: 6 assessments, 6 months apart]
- Number of awakenings (NAW) - actigraphy [Time frame: 6 assessments, 6 months apart]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Required to be employed as career (paid), uniformed fire service workers that must work in a participating fire agency.
- Must have moderate or more severe levels of sleep disturbances \[item-level calibrated T-score of 55 or higher on the 8-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Sleep Disturbance (SD) questionnaire\].
- Must have private access to a computer or phone for sleep health coaching.
Exclusion criteria
- Children younger than 18 years of age.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Crossover
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- University of Arizona — Tucson
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06684444 · STUDY00001612 · R01HL162799