Contribution of the Brief Family Strength–Oriented Therapeutic Conversation Intervention to Early Childhood Sleep Health: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

The family context is an important factor for sleep health in early childhood. About 40% of children between 0 and 3 years have problems regarding sleep that can affect their development. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of the brief family strength–oriented therapeutic conversation intervention to early-childhood sleep health. Data were collected in 2020–2021 from 57 primary caregivers of young children with moderate or severe sleep difficulties. The intervention was delivered through (a) a one 60-min face-to-face family educational and support session and (b) one to six 20- to 40-min telephone sessions based on the families’ needs. After the intervention, primary caregivers reported greater family support, more helpful beliefs about their infant’s/child sleep patterns, better family quality of life (QOL), better self-regulation regarding learning to fall and staying asleep among infants, and longer sleep periods at night in infants. These findings may prevent infants sleep difficulties from increasing and becoming more serious.

The family context is an important factor for sleep health in early childhood. About 40% of children between 0 and 3 years have problems regarding sleep that can affect their development. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of the brief family strength-oriented therapeutic conversation intervention to early-childhood sleep health. Data were collected in 2020-2021 from 57 primary caregivers of young children with moderate or severe sleep difficulties. The intervention was delivered through (a) a one 60-min face-to-face family educational and support session and (b) one to six 20- to 40-min telephone sessions based on the families' needs. After the intervention, primary caregivers reported greater family support, more helpful beliefs about their infant's/child sleep patterns, better family quality of life (QOL), better self-regulation regarding learning to fall and staying asleep among infants, and longer sleep periods at night in infants. These findings may prevent infants sleep difficulties from increasing and becoming more serious.