Case Study
Inclusivity in Insomnia: The Sleep Well Study
The Sleep Well Study (funded by The Prudence Trust) aimed to co-create an app-based intervention to support young people with their sleep, using the Person-Based Approach (Yardley et al., 2015). We worked with adolescents from underserved groups, to ensure the app was relevant and engaging.
First, we surveyed 346 young people asking how they wished to input. Only 17.7% were comfortable meeting online and so we supplemented online interviews with surveys and online commenting.
We also worked with a diverse group of young people from the McPin foundation with experience of mental health problems. They tried out the app and made recordings describing how useful they found it, which were included in the app. They also advised us to add rewards, so we added stars for completing the ‘sleep hacks’.
When rolling out the app, we found that many young people were dropping out when they got to the participant information sheet and consent form, which they found difficult to understand and off-putting We visited a local college to collect PPI feedback to make the forms as easy to read as possible, resulting in increased rates of completing them.
Adolescents (n=1046) from across the UK took part in the study and trialled Sleep Solved for 6 weeks, and 63 were interviewed about their experiences of the app.
Participants, including those from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and diverse ethnicities, reported improved sleep behaviours and mood, highlighting the potential of co-designed digital interventions to involve and benefit adolescent users.