Evaluating Worksite Sleep Health Coaching in Firefighters: The Sleep Assistance for Firefighters Study

Insufficient sleep is a major public health crisis in the United States and worldwide, disproportionately affecting shift workers and other at-risk groups. Firefighters are one such group at heightened risk for disturbed sleep. Almost half of career firefighters report short sleep and poor sleep quality, and 35-40% of firefighters screen positive for a sleep disorder.

Evidence-based sleep health interventions are available and highly effective in eliciting behavioral change. The American College of Physicians recommends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) as the first-line treatment for Insomnia Disorder, and substantial evidence supports the efficacy of this therapy with comorbid conditions, including shiftwork and obstructive sleep apnea. Unfortunately, access to CBT-informed sleep health interventions remains low. Workplace wellness programs could be one way to help more firefighters receive sleep intervention.

This study will recruit 20 fire agencies in Arizona (n = 400 career firefighters) to examine whether a CBTi-informed intervention is more effective than usual care in reducing sleep disturbances or improving multidimensional sleep health. The intervention will last one year and will include telephone-administered sleep health coaching to firefighters, sleep health promotion to the agency and agency leaders, and external/internal facilitation strategies for implementation. The trial will also examine which combinations of factors are associated with successful agency implementation of the intervention. All participating agencies will receive the intervention; however, some agencies will wait longer to receive the intervention than others.

Inclusion criteria

• Required to be employed as career (paid), uniformed fire service workers that must work in a participating fire agency.
• Must have moderate or more severe levels of sleep disturbances [item-level calibrated T-score of 55 or higher on the 8-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Sleep Disturbance (SD) questionnaire].
• Must have private access to a computer or phone for sleep health coaching.

Exclusion criteria

• Children younger than 18 years of age.