The Sleep Waltz Model: A Multi-Component Parent-Guided Sleep Hygiene Intervention for Improving Sleep Quality in...

To examine the effectiveness of the Sleep Waltz Model in improving key infant sleep outcomes (sleep onset latency, frequency of nighttime awakenings, daytime sleep duration, and parental satisfaction with infant sleep).

A total of 360 infants participated in the prospective, quasi-experimental intervention-controlled study, of whom 194 (53.9%) were female, with a mean age of 7.30 ± 2.92 months. This study used linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to examine how the "Sleep Waltz" intervention affected 4 main sleep outcomes. The robustness and adaptability of LMMs in managing repeated measures data led to their selection. For each of the following outcomes, distinct models were constructed: (1) nightly awakenings; (2) sleep onset latency; (3) parent sleep satisfaction; and (4) duration of daytime sleep. Time (baseline vs. follow-up), group (intervention vs. control), the critical time-by-group interaction term (to test the intervention effect), and covariates (child's age, sex, mother's education, father's education) were among the fixed effects in each complete model. To take individual differences between participants across time points into consideration, participant ID was added as a random intercept.

A significant time-by-intervention interaction (β=0.838, P < .001) and main effects for intervention (β=-0.705, P < .001) and mother's education (β=-0.225, P < .001) were found. Time, age, sex, and father's education were non-significant. The intervention significantly improved parental sleep satisfaction. At baseline, the intervention group reported lower satisfaction than controls. Post-intervention, the intervention group's satisfaction increased substantially (average +0.8 points), while the control group remained stable. Consequently, satisfaction scores between groups were comparable.

The "Sleep Waltz" intervention successfully improved parental satisfaction with infant sleep and also effectively increased daytime sleep in the initially symptomatic group to a normative level.