Effects of Delayed School Start Times on Sleep, Mental Health, and Academic Performance Among Norwegian Adolescents

NCT ID: NCT06657482

Last Updated: 2024-10-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 200 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-08-15
• Study Completion Date: 2025-06-30

Brief Summary

The aim is to investigate whether later school start times have positive effects on high school students' sleep patterns, mental health and daytime functioning.

Detailed Description

The current study is a randomized controlled study investigating whether later school start times on Mondays and Tuesdays have positive impact on high school students' sleep patterns, mental health, and daytime functioning. 1st year high school students are randomly assigned to classes starting either two hours later on Mondays and one hour later on Tuesday and ordinary school start times (8:15 ± 15 min) for the rest of the week, or to classes starting at regularly school start times (8:15 ± 15 min.) all weekdays. The students will be invited to respond to a web-based survey assessing sleep, mental health, and daytime functioning by the beginning and end of the school year. Official school grades and school absence data will be collected through the county administration for consenting students. Cognitive tests and objective sleep record through Somnofy are planned for a subgroup by the end of the 2024-25 school year. The study will last for two school years and involve two different cohorts of 1st year high school students.

Conditions

Sleep; Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm; Psychiatric Disorder; Sleepiness, Daytime

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Delayed school start times on Mondays and Tuesdays (intervention condition)

Two hour delay in school start time on Mondays and one hour delay on Tuesdays. Ordinary school start time (8:15 ± 15 min) for the rest of the week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Delayed school start time

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The intervention group will start school two hours later on Mondays (at 10.15 ± 15 min) and one hour later on Tuesdays (9.15 ± 15 min) and to ordinary school start time (8.15 ± 15 min) for the rest of the week

Ordinary school start time all weekdays (control condition)

Ordinary school start time (8:15 ± 15 min) all school days

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Delayed school start time

The intervention group will start school two hours later on Mondays (at 10.15 ± 15 min) and one hour later on Tuesdays (9.15 ± 15 min) and to ordinary school start time (8.15 ± 15 min) for the rest of the week

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 1st year high school students at study preparatory program of participating schools

Exclusion Criteria

• Parent consent not obtained/documented for participants under 16 years

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Haukeland University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Bergen

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Bjørn Bjorvatn

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Norway

Locations

University of Bergen

Bergen, Vestland, Norway

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Norway

Central Contacts

Bjørn Bjorvatn, MD, PhD

Role: CONTACT

bjorn.bjorvatn@uib.no

55974706 ext. +47

Facility Contacts

Bjørn Bjorvatn, MD PhD

Role: primary

bjorn.bjorvatn@uib.no

+4791140269

Other Identifiers

REK Vest 606094

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id