The Development,Feasibility,and Acceptability of Sleeping Healthy,Living Healthy for Children (SHLH-C): A Behavioral Sleep and Mind Body Integrative Health Intervention for School-Aged Children

Abstract

Poor sleep significantly impacts elementary school-aged children's health and wellbeing. Few interventions have been developed to address sleep among this population, and none have included mind–body integrative health (MBIH). To address this, we developed Sleeping Healthy, Living Healthy for Children. This article describes our iterative development process, the final curriculum, and results of a proof-of-concept study evaluating the intervention's feasibility and acceptability, and if there was a signal for sleep improvement. The final manualized intervention consists of six group sessions which integrate healthy sleep behaviors with MBIH techniques. Doctor of Nursing Practice students successfully delivered the program to 14 children in an afterschool program in New York City, as evidenced by good intervention fidelity and high attendance rates. The children reported high program satisfaction and use of the healthy sleep behaviors and MBIH techniques taught. Preliminary findings indicate improvement in the children's sleep-related impairment and sleep disturbances.