P1398 Evaluation of a targeted behavioural sleep intervention for student-athletes

Introduction: Student-athletes exhibit undesirable sleep characteristics that can negatively affect both academic attainment and athletic performance. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a targeted intervention designed to modify sleep behaviour in student-athletes.

Method: The intervention design was based on the COM-B model of behaviour change. Previous research utilising the COM-B model in this cohort identified barriers related to psychological capability, physical opportunity, and motivation, which could be addressed to improve sleep behaviour. The intervention focused on enhancing psychological capability and motivation through a 40-min in-person interactive workshop highlighting the consequences of poor sleep and addressing common perceived barriers to sleep. Personalised visual feedback on current sleep practices was also provided. These intervention components incorporated nine distinct behaviour change techniques from the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy. Wrist-worn actigraphy (GENEActiv, Activinsights) was used to evaluate sleep timing, duration, and consistency using the Sleep Regularity Index (SRI). Descriptive analysis and paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare outcomes between baseline and a follow-up assessment conducted five weeks post-intervention.

Results: Fifteen male Rugby Union student-athletes (mean age: 19 ± 1 years) competing at a regional level completed the intervention. Baseline actigraphy data revealed short nocturnal total sleep times (6.5 ± 0.9 h) and low sleep consistency (SRI: 70 ± 9). No significant changes in actigraphy-derived sleep parameters were found for sleep onset time (0.2 h earlier, p = 0.23), sleep offset time (0.1 h earlier, p = 0.87), daily total sleep time including naps (0.2 h longer, p = 0.14), or SRI score (1.0-unit increase, p = 0.82) at follow-up compared to baseline.

Conclusion: This study corroborates previous findings indicating that student-athletes have short sleep durations and inconsistent sleep patterns. While the intervention did not significantly change sleep parameters, it may protect against worsening sleep outcomes related to increasing academic-related demands throughout a semester. Accordingly, further exploration in a larger sample with a control group is warranted. However, addressing barriers related to physical opportunity that would require structural-level changes, such as modifications to training schedules, may prove to be a more effective approach to improving sleep behaviour in student-athletes.