Nurse leader well-being: Optimizing sleep with a randomized pilot study of a digital sleep intervention

Nurse leaders experience high levels of stress, fatigue, and burnout, often worsened by poor sleep quality and circadian disruption. Digital tools that support sleep optimization may help strengthen well-being and resilience in this population.

This randomized, waitlist-controlled pilot study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a digital circadian-based sleep intervention and explored its impact on sleep quality, insomnia severity, and resilience among nurse leaders.

Forty nurse leaders were randomized to a 4-week digital sleep intervention or waitlist control. Participants completed validated measures, including the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance 8b, Insomnia Severity Index, and Brief Resilience Scale, at baseline and 4 weeks. Engagement, satisfaction, and qualitative feedback were also collected.

Completion was high (97.5%). The intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in sleep disturbance (d = 1.44; P < .001) and insomnia severity (d = 1.55; P < .001) than controls. Resilience scores improved modestly in the intervention group but weren't statistically significant (d = 0.4; P = .15). Participants reported favorable satisfaction (mean = 3.51/5) and found the app easy to use.

This pilot study supports the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a digital circadian-based intervention to improve sleep among nurse leaders. Although effects on resilience weren't significant, trends suggest potential benefit and warrant further study in larger, longer-term trials.