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[Mini-KiSS--a multimodal group therapy intervention for parents of young children with sleep disorders: a pilot
Angelika Anita Schlarb1, Isabel Brandhorst, Martin Hautzinger
1Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Fachbereich Psychologie, Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen. angelika.schlarb@uni-tuebingen.de
Insights
The Mini-KiSS parent training program effectively reduced sleep problems in young children and improved their emotional well-being. This intervention also enhanced parental well-being, particularly maternal mood.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric sleep medicine
- Developmental psychology
- Parenting interventions
Context:
- Sleep disorders are prevalent in early childhood, causing significant parental distress.
- Chronic sleep issues in young children require effective, accessible interventions.
- Parental well-being is closely linked to childhood sleep patterns.
Purpose:
- To develop and evaluate the Mini-KiSS, a multimodal parent training program for childhood sleep disorders.
- To assess the program's impact on children's sleep problems and parental well-being.
- To test the hypothesis of specific improvements following structured group training.
Summary:
- The pilot study involved 17 parents of children aged 0.5-4 years with sleep disorders.
- A pre-post test design assessed changes using sleep diaries, CBCL, and SCL-90-R.
- Results indicated high acceptance and feasibility of the Mini-KiSS program.
Impact:
- Significant reduction in childhood sleep disturbances, including night awakenings and co-sleeping.
- Improvements observed in children's emotional and behavioral problems.
- Enhanced parental well-being, notably reduced maternal depressive symptoms.
Objective:
Sleep disorders in early childhood tend to be chronic and almost always a burden for the parents. This study developed and evaluated a multimodal parent training program for children 0.5 to 4 years of age suffering from sleep disorders (Mini-KiSS). We hypothesized that there would be specific improvements following the structured group training (reduction of sleep problems, improvement of parental well-being).
Method:
The pilot study consisted of a pre-post test design without control group. Participants were n = 17 parents of children 0.5 to 4 years of age with sleep disorders determined according to the ICSD-II. Each of the six sessions was evaluated, and changes were assessed by sleep diary and CBCL. Behavioral and emotional problems of the child were assessed by CBCL, parental well-being, and SCL-90-R.
Results:
The results showed high acceptance of Mini-KiSS and satisfactory feasibility. Children showed significant improvements of the sleep disturbances such as nightly awakenings as well as sleeping in parents' bed. Furthermore, improvements were found for children's emotional and behavioral problems and for parental well-being, in particular for the depression scale of the mother.
Conclusions:
This pilot study shows a high acceptance and good feasibility of the multimodal short-time parent-training program Mini-KiSS. Sleep problems were significantly reduced.
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