Tailored Treatment of Insomnia in Social and Health Care Sector Shift Workers in Occupational Health Care

NCT ID: NCT06827626

Last Updated: 2026-02-02

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

84 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-02-17

Study Completion Date

2027-03-31

Brief Summary

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The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the usefulness of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) tailored to shift workers in the social and health care sector. The study will also learn about the shift workers' experiences of the acceptability and feasibility of CBT-I and investigate which features of shift work and individual characteristics promote or interfere with the effectiveness of the tailored CBT-I.

The main question the study aims to answer is:

• Does CBT-I tailored to shift workers in the social and health care sector improve perceived insomnia severity, insomnia symptoms, mental health and quality of life?

Researchers will compare CBT-I to a control intervention (short sleep hygiene counselling) to see if CBT-I works to treat insomnia in shift workers.

Participants will:

* Participate in the research intervention (CBT-I tailored to the shift work context; six individual sessions) or the control intervention (sleep hygiene counselling; one individual session)
* Complete the measures (sleep diary, actigraphy and questionnaires) at baseline, after the end of treatment (12 weeks after the first session) and at 6 months after the end of treatment.

Detailed Description

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Disturbed sleep and insomnia are common among shift workers, and disturbed sleep is considered a key factor in other health risks associated with shift work. However, there are no established treatment practices for treating insomnia in shift workers. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) tailored for social and health care sector shift workers whose work includes night shifts. Furthermore, the study will assess the shift workers' experiences of the acceptability and feasibility of CBT-I from their perspective. The study will also examine which features of shift work and employee characteristics promote or interfere with the effectiveness of the tailored CBT-I.

The study is a randomised controlled trial. Participants will be shift workers in the social and health care sector who work in three or two shifts, including night shifts, and have significant insomnia symptoms. Participants will be recruited through occupational health services (OHS) and social media posts. The FIOH study group will carry out the measurements of the participants. Participants will complete the baseline measures (sleep diary, actigraphy and questionnaires) and then will be randomly assigned to receive the research intervention (CBT-I tailored to the shift work context; six individual sessions) or the control intervention (sleep hygiene counselling; one individual session). The interventions will be delivered by the nurses of the participants´ OHS and the FIOH. Participants will complete the follow-up measures after the end of treatment (12 weeks after the first session) and at 6 months after the end of treatment.

The results of the study can be utilised in OHS to guide and treat shift workers with insomnia as part of supporting their work ability.

Conditions

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Insomnia Chronic Shift Work Sleep Disorder

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Investigators

Study Groups

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is tailored for shift workers in social and health care sector. CBT-I is delivered individually (six sessions) by trained nurses. It includes behavioral methods (sleep compression tailored for shift work context), cognitive methods, and shift work related sleep hygiene counselling.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) includes behavioral methods, cognitive methods, and sleep hygiene counselling.

Sleep hygiene counselling

Sleep hygiene counselling is delivered individually (one session) by trained nurses. It includes sleep hygiene instructions tailored to the context of shift work.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Sleep hygiene counselling

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Sleep hygiene counselling includes common instructions to improve sleep.

Interventions

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Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) includes behavioral methods, cognitive methods, and sleep hygiene counselling.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Sleep hygiene counselling

Sleep hygiene counselling includes common instructions to improve sleep.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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CBT-I Sleep hygiene

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* age 18-65 years
* working in social and heath care sector
* 3- or 2-shift work including night shift at least once per month
* full time or nearly full time shift work (75-100 %)
* Insomnia Severity Index score \> 10
* duration of insomnia symptoms at least 3 months
* shift work continuing for at least the next year
* sufficient Finnish language skills (coaching materials in Finnish only)

Exclusion Criteria

* non-assessed or untreated clinically significant somatic or mental symptoms or illnesses or other sleep disorders that could explain current insomnia symptoms
* earlier participation to CBT-I
* other ongoing or planned psychotherapeutic/psychological intervention
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Finnish Work Environment Fund

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Terveystalo Oyj

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Joint Authority HUS

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

The Wellbeing Services County of South Ostrobotnia and TT Botnia Oy

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

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Joint Authority HUS

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

Site Status RECRUITING

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

Site Status RECRUITING

Terveystalo Oyj

Helsinki, Uusima, Finland

Site Status RECRUITING

The Wellbeing Services County of South Ostrobotnia and TT Botnia Oy

Seinäjoki, , Finland

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Finland

Central Contacts

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Heli M Järnefelt, PhD

Role: CONTACT

+358505627905

Kati Karhula

Role: CONTACT

+358304742560

Facility Contacts

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Minna Majuri

Role: primary

+358-40-3539104

Heli M Järnefelt, PhD

Role: primary

+358-50-5627905

Kati Karhula

Role: backup

+358304742560

Minna Kuurne-Koivisto

Role: primary

+358-50-3239326

Virpi Lipasti, Service manager

Role: primary

+358 40 188 6941

References

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Morin CM, Vallieres A, Ivers H. Dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep (DBAS): validation of a brief version (DBAS-16). Sleep. 2007 Nov;30(11):1547-54. doi: 10.1093/sleep/30.11.1547.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 18041487 (View on PubMed)

Kalmbach DA, Pillai V, Arnedt JT, Drake CL. Identifying At-Risk Individuals for Insomnia Using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test. Sleep. 2016 Feb 1;39(2):449-56. doi: 10.5665/sleep.5462.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 26446111 (View on PubMed)

Vanttola P, Puttonen S, Karhula K, Oksanen T, Harma M. Prevalence of shift work disorder among hospital personnel: A cross-sectional study using objective working hour data. J Sleep Res. 2020 Jun;29(3):e12906. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12906. Epub 2019 Aug 14.

Reference Type RESULT
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Natale V, Plazzi G, Martoni M. Actigraphy in the assessment of insomnia: a quantitative approach. Sleep. 2009 Jun;32(6):767-71. doi: 10.1093/sleep/32.6.767.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 19544753 (View on PubMed)

Carney CE, Buysse DJ, Ancoli-Israel S, Edinger JD, Krystal AD, Lichstein KL, Morin CM. The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep. 2012 Feb 1;35(2):287-302. doi: 10.5665/sleep.1642.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 22294820 (View on PubMed)

Morin CM, Belleville G, Belanger L, Ivers H. The Insomnia Severity Index: psychometric indicators to detect insomnia cases and evaluate treatment response. Sleep. 2011 May 1;34(5):601-8. doi: 10.1093/sleep/34.5.601.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 21532953 (View on PubMed)

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 11556941 (View on PubMed)

Johns MW. A new method for measuring daytime sleepiness: the Epworth sleepiness scale. Sleep. 1991 Dec;14(6):540-5. doi: 10.1093/sleep/14.6.540.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 1798888 (View on PubMed)

Ell J, Bruckner HA, Johann AF, Steinmetz L, Guth LJ, Feige B, Jarnefelt H, Vallieres A, Frase L, Domschke K, Riemann D, Lehr D, Spiegelhalder K. Digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia reduces insomnia in nurses suffering from shift work disorder: A randomised-controlled pilot trial. J Sleep Res. 2024 Dec;33(6):e14193. doi: 10.1111/jsr.14193. Epub 2024 Mar 14.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 38485134 (View on PubMed)

Seligman ME. The effectiveness of psychotherapy. The Consumer Reports study. Am Psychol. 1995 Dec;50(12):965-74. doi: 10.1037//0003-066x.50.12.965.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 8561380 (View on PubMed)

Weiner BJ, Lewis CC, Stanick C, Powell BJ, Dorsey CN, Clary AS, Boynton MH, Halko H. Psychometric assessment of three newly developed implementation outcome measures. Implement Sci. 2017 Aug 29;12(1):108. doi: 10.1186/s13012-017-0635-3.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 28851459 (View on PubMed)

Hadzibajramovic E, Schaufeli W, De Witte H. Shortening of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)-from 23 to 12 items using content and Rasch analysis. BMC Public Health. 2022 Mar 22;22(1):560. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12946-y.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 35313849 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

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Other Identifiers

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4025601

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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