Use of Wearable Sleep Data in the Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Insights From Subject Matter Experts

Chronic sleep challenges are highly prevalent among individuals with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Current treatment decisions rely heavily on subjective self-reports, which can lead to suboptimal targeting of treatment, poor outcomes, and treatment dropout. This study aimed to gather input from subject matter experts (SMEs) regarding the use of wearable sleep data in the treatment of PTSD-related sleep challenges and to determine the feasibility and potential impact of integrating objective sleep data into clinical practice.

A Qualtrics survey was distributed to 52 SMEs in fields including psychiatry, psychology, and sleep medicine.

Subject matter expert responses indicate moderate to high confidence in the accuracy, reliability, usefulness, and usability of wearable sleep data. In a series of case-based questions, treatment choices were different and more targeted with objective sleep data available versus without. Survey responses and contextual analysis suggest that SMEs tend to favor non-pharmaceutical treatments as first-line options, particularly when objective wearable data are available to guide decision-making. Subject matter experts provided a wealth of information regarding barriers to implementation and use and potential best practices. These responses indicate a need for access to wearable devices, streamlined access to data that save rather than cost clinicians time, and decision support tools that provide guidance regarding actions to consider based on patterns of observed data.

This survey provides preliminary evidence that SMEs broadly perceive objective wearable data as reliable, accurate, useful, and usable in addressing PTSD-related sleep disturbances. Responses demonstrated that some parameters are perceived as being more reliable than others. Subject matter experts demonstrated significantly more precise and targeted decision-making when objective parameters (e.g., oxygen saturation, sleep latency, total sleep time) were available, underscoring potential clinical utility of wearable sleep devices. However, despite overall positive perceptions, SMEs identified several significant barriers, notably logistical challenges related to data integration, standardization, and clinical decision support. These findings highlight the importance of further work to be done in terms of creating and testing streamlined and validated systems to integrate wearable data into existing clinical workflows.

These results support investing further time and resources into developing systems that facilitate the use of wearable data to address sleep challenges in PTSD. The odds of success are likely to increase if the system provides access to wearable devices, streamlined access to data, and clinical decision support.