Name
#140 - Effectiveness of a Provider-Guided Digital Health Platform to Support Sleep Optimization in Airmen: Findings and Implications
Date & Time
Tuesday, February 13, 2024, 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Description

Sleep disturbances affect over 50% of U.S. military personnel, and compromise readiness. Non-pharmacological, behavioral interventions can support optimal sleep, but are not widely available. Operational demands that curtail sleep and circadian disruption attributable to long work hours and shift work can complicate the implementation of effective sleep optimization strategies. Additionally, few providers are trained in behavioral sleep medicine, and the delivery of traditional recommended sleep interventions is often impractical and burdensome for both providers and patients. COASTTM is a clinical decision support platform designed to upskill providers and scale delivery and access to evidence-based sleep interventions. In this quality improvement project, we posited that COAST would be acceptable to embedded and mental health clinic providers, and that provider-guided sleep optimization interventions delivered through COAST would yield rapid and clinically meaningful improvements in sleep among Airmen. Between April 2020 and August 2023, we provided introductory training on behavioral sleep medicine and hands-on training on how to use COAST to 59 mental health providers. Surveys were used to evaluate the perceived usefulness of COAST. Providers were then free to use COAST with Airmen when and for the duration they deemed appropriate, however the recommended duration of use was 4-6 weeks. Airmen downloaded the COAST app, completed daily sleep logs and weekly assessments, and followed their provider’s recommendations through the COAST app weekly. Cohen’s d effect sizes were used to quantify the magnitude of improvements over time on self-report measures of insomnia severity, daytime sleepiness, and sleep log-derived measures of sleep quality. Military and civilian providers from 11 units across nine sites joined this project. Fifty-nine providers completed the introductory sleep training, and 53 (89.8%) completed COAST onboarding training. Nineteen (34.5%) implemented COAST into their practice. Overall, providers rated COAST as helpful to support sleep care and agreed it would be easy to integrate into their workflows. All rated COAST as a valuable tool, and nearly all (95%) indicated that they would recommend COAST to their patients and colleagues. Of the 127 Airmen (Mean age: 31.0, s.d. = 10.9 years old; 27% women) enrolled, 105 (82.7%) activated the COAST app. Less than 5% never used the app, and 58.9% used the app for at least 14 days. Clinically meaningful improvements in insomnia were detectable weeks after the baseline assessment (Cohen’s d = 1.0, respectively). Modest but clinically meaningful reductions were detected with the use of COAST after 4 weeks for sleep latency (d = .46) and total nocturnal wake time (d = .57), leading to increased sleep efficiency (d = .60). No increase in daytime sleepiness was detected (d = 0.19). Providers regarded COAST as a valuable tool that is well-suited to address Airmen’s sleep care needs. COAST yielded rapid and clinically meaningful reductions in insomnia symptoms and improvements in sleep quality with minimal impact on daytime sleepiness. These observations warrant a larger randomized clinical trial to compare the benefits of COAST relative to sleep care as usual.

Location Name
Prince Georges Exhibit Hall A/B
Content Presented on Behalf of
Other entity not listed
Learning Outcomes
Following the presentation, participants will be able to: <br />
1.Describe common sleep challenges reported by Airmen to their embedded and mental health clinic providers; <br />
2.Evaluate the need for providers’ training in behavioral sleep medicine; <br />
3.Evaluate the clinical utility and impact of provider-guided digital technology to scale sleep optimization capabilities in embedded and mental health clinic settings.
Session Type
Posters