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RecruitingNCT06240325SPP PCUpdated Sep 9, 2026

Sleep Promotion Program Primary Care

An interventional study of SPP and Sleep Psychoeducation in Sleep, Sleep Disturbance and Insufficient Sleep, sponsored by University of Pittsburgh. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 12 Years to 18 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-09.

Sponsored by University of Pittsburgh · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
12 Years to 18 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Investigators developed a brief, scalable, behavioral Sleep Promotion Program (SPP) for adolescents with short sleep duration and sleep-wake irregularity, which relies on two individual sessions and smart phone technology to deliver evidence-based strategies. This R34 will test the feasibility and initial effectiveness of the SPP program and provider training via pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT, n=50) comparing SPP to Sleep Psychoeducation, a brief session on healthy sleep habits. Participants will be adolescents (12-18 years) with short sleep duration, sleep-wake irregularity, and depression.

02

Conditions studied

  • Sleep
  • Sleep Disturbance
  • Insufficient Sleep
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
12 Years to 18 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Youth:

  • Able and willing to provide informed assent (with consent from parent/guardian)
  • Ages 12-18
  • Currently a patient at Kids Plus Pediatrics
  • Currently depressed
  • Report short sleep duration (\<7 hours on school nights) and/or weekday-weekend sleep timing difference of >=2 hours

Parents:

Parents must be age 18 or older and the parent/guardian of an enrolled youth participant and must have at least 10 hours face-to-face interaction with the youth participant per week.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Youth:

  • Significant or unstable medical conditions
  • Diagnosis of sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, nightmare disorder, or periodic limb movement disorder
  • Diagnosis of PTSD, bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, or substance use disorder
  • Currently engaged in cognitive and/or behavioral therapy that aims to improve sleep
  • Changes in medications in the month prior to screening
  • Active suicidality requiring immediate treatment
  • Unable or unwilling to comply with study procedures
  • Have any physical or mental condition that would preclude study participation.

Parents will be excluded if they:

  • Express active suicidality that requires immediate treatment;
  • Have any physical or mental condition that would preclude study participation; OR
  • Are unable or unwilling to comply with study procedures.
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Sleep Promotion Program

    Participants will receive the Sleep Promotion Program (SPP), consisting of 2 individual sessions with a clinician via telehealth (or in-person if desired), about 2 weeks apart, and web-based intervention components.

    Behavioral: SPP

  • Active comparator
    Sleep Psychoeducation

    Participants will receive Sleep Psychoeducation (SPE), a 20-minute discussion with a clinician via telehealth (or in person).

    Behavioral: Sleep Psychoeducation

Interventions

  • BehavioralSPP

    SPP prioritizes increasing sleep duration and regularizing sleep-wake timing. The provider and youth review the youth's sleep pattern, based on sleep diary data collected before and during the program and actigraphy data collected at baseline. They discuss benefits to the current sleep pattern, reasons for changing sleep, and they create an action plan. Psychoeducation about healthy sleep is offered via a handout developed by our group. Youth and provider jointly select SPP strategies relevant to the contributors to poor sleep for each youth (e.g., time management, limiting weekend oversleep). In the second session they review progress and adjust the plan. Parents participate for part of each session to learn about their child's sleep and to discuss ways they can support their child to make the planned changes.

  • BehavioralSleep Psychoeducation

    Using the pamphlet also used in SPP, SPE will present sleep hygiene practices commonly included in sleep education programs and endorsed by national health organizations.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Feasibility of Intervention Measure

    The Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) is a 4-item measure that assesses the feasibility of the intervention, each item is scored on a 1-5 likert scale (completely disagree to completely agree). Items can be evaluated individually or a scale can be created by averaging responses. Scale values range from 1-5.

    Time frame: Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  2. Acceptability of Intervention Measure

    The Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) is a 4-item measure that assesses the acceptability of the intervention, each item is scored on a 1-5 likert scale (completely disagree to completely agree). Items can be evaluated individually or a scale can be created by averaging responses. Scale values range from 1-5.

    Time frame: Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  3. Intervention Appropriateness Measure

    The Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) is a 4-item measure that assesses the appropriateness of the intervention, each item is scored on a 1-5 likert scale (completely disagree to completely agree). Items can be evaluated individually or a scale can be created by averaging responses. Scale values range from 1-5.

    Time frame: Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  4. Clinical Global Impressions Scale - Improvement

    This is a clinician rating of improvement in sleep and psychopathology. Clinicians rate domains of sleep health, psychiatric symptoms, and overall health on a range from 1 very much improved) to 7 (very much worse). A score of 0 indicates no assessment. Scores for each domain are reported individually.

    Time frame: Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  5. Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 - M

    This is a self-report measure of depressive symptoms. It consists of 9 items rated 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day) over the past 2 weeks. Scores on those 9 items are summed to create a total score (0-27, higher score indicates greater depression).

    Time frame: Change Screening to Post-Intervention (~10 weeks)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pediatric Sleep Survey Sleep Knowledge (SK)

    This is a provider self-report of knowledge about sleep. The sleep knowledge domain has 21 items that assess provider knowledge or sleep. The response options are true, false, or don't know. The number or percentage of correctly scored items is reported.

    Time frame: Training Start to End of Study Involvement (Up to 2.5 years)

  2. SPP Therapy Rating Scale

    This is a form completed by an independent rater who will review session recordings and rate them for fidelity. The scale has 5 items rated no (0) or yes (1), and 24 items rated 0 (not discussed/delivered) to 3 (excellent use of the skill). Items can be reported individually or can be summed to obtain a total score. Scale score range is 0 to 77

    Time frame: Completed at each SPP Session (2 and 4 weeks after baseline)

  3. Sleep Diary Sleep Duration

    This is a youth daily self-report of sleep, from which will be extracted sleep duration, reported in hours and minutes.

    Time frame: Baseline to Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  4. Sleep Diary Sleep-Wake Regularity

    This is a youth daily self-report of sleep, from which will be extracted sleep regularity, reported as difference in sleep-wake timing between weekdays and weekends.

    Time frame: Baseline to Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  5. Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms - Adolescent (17 item) - Self-Report (QIDS-A17-SR)

    This is a secondary measure of youth depression, completed by self-report, with 17 items rated on a 0 to 3 likert scale. The total score is made by summing some of the items with a total score range of 0-27.

    Time frame: Baseline to Post-Intervention (~8 weeks)

  6. Pediatric Sleep Survey PC

    This is a provider self-report of their comfort and capacity delivering the SPP intervention. The comfort and capacity domain asks about provider comfort delivering 14 behavioral sleep strategies, with responses on a likert scale from not at all comfortable to very comfortable. Responses can be reported individually, as well as a percentage of strategies that providers stated they were somewhat or very comfortable providing.

    Time frame: Training Start to End of Study Involvement (up to 2.5 years)

06

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • University of Pittsburgh
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15217, United States
    Recruiting
07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — In accordance with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive Data Use Certification, investigators will share data collected as part of this proposal with outside investigators. To access data from this study, outside investigators will be asked to submit a proposal that incudes project aims and hypotheses, variables and analytic approach, and rationale for the proposed analysis. The proposal would also include information on how and where the data will be used, investigators' qualifications, timeframe in which data will be analyzed/submitted/published, source of financial support, and conflict of interest statement. They will be asked to sign a data sharing agreement and confidentiality statement prior to the sharing of this data.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06240325
Lead sponsor
University of Pittsburgh
Collaborators
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Responsible party
Jessica Levenson (Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 5, 2024
Start date
Dec 13, 2024
Primary completion
Oct 31, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Nov 30, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 9, 2026

Study contacts

Jessica C Levenson
Contact
levensonjc@upmc.edu
412-647-7937
Paige DeGennaro
Contact
degennaropl@upmc.edu
412-246-5974
Jessica C Levenson
principal investigator · University of Pittsburgh

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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