Cascading A Healthy Sleep Intervention In Vocational Education

NCT ID: NCT07030556

Last Updated: 2025-06-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 160 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-06-30
• Study Completion Date: 2026-06-30

Brief Summary

Sleep is crucial for the mental, cognitive and physical health of adolescents. However, teenagers in 2024 sleep less and less and their sleep is of poorer quality. It is striking that adolescents who follow vocational education sleep even worse compared to peers who follow a technical or general education. It is therefore important to focus on this risk group of adolescents to reduce health differences. However, there are no previous intervention studies that focused on them.

In previous research, a healthy sleep intervention was already developed, implemented and evaluated in a participatory manner. Within this research, the investigators want to focus on evaluating the process of implementation of this intervention among first and second year secondary school students (12 to 14 year olds) and teachers from vocational education. Based on the results of this process evaluation, the investigators want to deliver this intervention as a ready-made package to Flemish secondary schools.

Conditions

Sleep Quality; Implementation

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Healthy Sleep Intervention

This single-arm study involves three interventions: (A) a co-creation process with 6-8 purposefully selected students and teachers to adapt an existing healthy sleep intervention to local needs; (B) a one-time training for teachers on the importance of sleep and implementation of the intervention, supported by thematic manuals and follow-up consultations; and (C) school-wide implementation of the adapted healthy sleep intervention for all first- and second-year secondary students.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Healthy Sleep Intervention

Intervention Type: OTHER

This intervention has a duration of nine weeks and starts with a kick-off event where the students of the action group provide explanations to fellow students. Furthermore, the intervention is structured in five themes of approximately two weeks each: 1) importance of healthy sleep, 2) sleep and wake cycle, 3) screen time, 4) exercise and nutrition and 5) screen use and mental well-being. Three posters are provided for each theme, five to seven Instagram posts and a class discussion. In addition, healthy sleep is explained during the biology lesson. Furthermore, a competition between classes is organized to sleep as well as possible with the help of an app, classes are given a planner to visualize the workload of school tasks, exercise snacks will be introduced during the lessons and students are given a notebook to write things down in case of worrying. Finally, a closing moment is provided. Flyers with information about healthy sleep in young people are distributed to parents.

Co-creation process

Intervention Type: OTHER

co-creation process with students and teachers: to adapt the existing intervention to the needs of the school. For this, schools can recruit 6 to 8 students via purposeful sampling to form an action group. They will be asked to participate in two sessions during the lunch break in which 1) the needs of the students at school in relation to healthy sleep are mapped out and the goals of the already developed intervention are supplemented or not based on the needs 2) a choice is made from the already developed intervention components 3) necessary adjustments are made to intervention components.

Training for teachers

Intervention Type: OTHER

implementation of the implementation intervention for teachers. The implementation intervention consists of a one-off training for all teachers of the 1st and 2nd year of secondary school in which the importance of sleep and the intervention and its materials are explained. A manual per theme is then provided to the teachers who will implement components (see also appendix 'Manual Sleep Project'). Consultation moments will be planned in consultation to discuss the progress of the implementation.

Interventions

Healthy Sleep Intervention

This intervention has a duration of nine weeks and starts with a kick-off event where the students of the action group provide explanations to fellow students. Furthermore, the intervention is structured in five themes of approximately two weeks each: 1) importance of healthy sleep, 2) sleep and wake cycle, 3) screen time, 4) exercise and nutrition and 5) screen use and mental well-being. Three posters are provided for each theme, five to seven Instagram posts and a class discussion. In addition, healthy sleep is explained during the biology lesson. Furthermore, a competition between classes is organized to sleep as well as possible with the help of an app, classes are given a planner to visualize the workload of school tasks, exercise snacks will be introduced during the lessons and students are given a notebook to write things down in case of worrying. Finally, a closing moment is provided. Flyers with information about healthy sleep in young people are distributed to parents.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Co-creation process

co-creation process with students and teachers: to adapt the existing intervention to the needs of the school. For this, schools can recruit 6 to 8 students via purposeful sampling to form an action group. They will be asked to participate in two sessions during the lunch break in which 1) the needs of the students at school in relation to healthy sleep are mapped out and the goals of the already developed intervention are supplemented or not based on the needs 2) a choice is made from the already developed intervention components 3) necessary adjustments are made to intervention components.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Training for teachers

implementation of the implementation intervention for teachers. The implementation intervention consists of a one-off training for all teachers of the 1st and 2nd year of secondary school in which the importance of sleep and the intervention and its materials are explained. A manual per theme is then provided to the teachers who will implement components (see also appendix 'Manual Sleep Project'). Consultation moments will be planned in consultation to discuss the progress of the implementation.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• student in 1st or 2nd year of secondary vocational education
• teacher who helped implement the intervention

Exclusion Criteria

• No students who participated in the co-creation process may participate in the group interview about receiving the intervention.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University Ghent

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Benedicte Deforche, Prof. PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University Ghent

Locations

Ghent University

Ghent, , Belgium

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Belgium

Central Contacts

Ann Vandendriessche, PhD

Role: CONTACT

ann.vandendriessche@ugent.be

+3293328393

Facility Contacts

Ann Vandendriessche, PhD

Role: primary

ann.vandendriessche@ugent.be

093328393

Role: backup

benedicte.deforche@ugent.be

Other Identifiers

ONZ-2024-0614

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id