Program to Support Child Sleep from the Occupational Therapy Perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Occupational Therapy
• Child Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Sleep Medicine

Background:

• Insomnia is prevalent in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs).
• Occupational therapy offers a potential framework for addressing sleep disturbances in this population.
• The Program to Support Child Sleep from the Occupational Therapy Perspective (PASITO) was developed to target these sleep issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the interim effectiveness of the PASITO program.
• To assess the impact of occupational therapy on sleep problems in children with NDDs and insomnia.

Main Methods:

• A pre- and post-intervention quasi-experimental design was employed.
• Involved an intervention group and a control group of children aged 3-10 years with NDDs.
• Utilized the Sleep Habits Questionnaire (SHQ) and Consensus Sleep Diary (CSD) for data collection.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in overall SHQ scores for the intervention group (p < 0.001).
• Intervention group scores moved closer to the established reference range.
• CSD data indicated increased sleep duration, earlier sleep onset, and reduced night wakings.

Conclusions:

• Interim results suggest PASITO is a promising intervention for managing sleep problems in children with NDDs.
• Occupational therapy-based interventions can positively impact sleep in this vulnerable group.
• Further research and long-term follow-up are warranted to confirm these findings.