Co-designing Nova Sleepcare: exploring in-clinic, physician-delivered sleep education

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Pediatric Sleep Medicine
• Behavioral Health

Background:

• Youth with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) often exhibit behaviors of concern (BoC), frequently worsened by sleep disturbances.
• Current sleep interventions are not well-integrated into routine clinical care for these families, limiting access to effective support.
• A significant gap exists in providing accessible, evidence-based sleep education for NDD populations experiencing BoC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To co-design Nova Sleepcare, an in-clinic, physician-delivered sleep education program.
• Identify barriers and facilitators for program implementation among end-users: youth with NDDs, caregivers, and pediatricians.

Main Methods:

• Iterative refinement of a Nova Sleepcare prototype through open-ended interviews with 24 end-users (8 youth, 9 caregivers, 7 pediatricians).
• Verbatim transcription and reflexive thematic analysis of interview data to identify implementation barriers, facilitators, and necessary modifications.
• Focus on optimizing the program for real-world clinical practice.

Main Results:

• One primary barrier identified: limited capacity for sleep strategy implementation by end-users.
• Three key facilitators emerged: strong motivation to improve sleep and reduce BoC, program accessibility and tailorability, and a structured 'Pathway to Better Sleep' for collaborative strategy prioritization.
• The co-design process resulted in a streamlined, flexible tool perceived as practical and relevant by end-users.

Conclusions:

• Nova Sleepcare, through co-design, embeds evidence-based sleep education into clinical encounters.
• The program directly addresses the unmet need for accessible sleep support for youth with NDDs and associated behaviors of concern.
• This approach offers a practical solution to improve sleep outcomes and reduce challenging behaviors in this population.