Critical sleep interventions for nursing students: A pilot study of the Sleep Tool Kit

Abstract

Background and objective: Nursing students often experience inadequate sleep duration and poor sleep quality, which can negatively impact their academic performance and overall well-being. Addressing these challenges through structured interventions may help improve sleep health. The aim of this study was to determine how the implementation of a Sleep Toolkit focused on improving sleep hygiene impacts students’ sleep patterns and quality.

Methods A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design was used with 29 participants between March and April 2025. The Sleep Toolkit, adapted from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, was administered to promote better sleep hygiene. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26, with descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results There was no statistically significant difference in average sleep hours (p =.350) or feelings of restedness (p = 1.00) after the intervention. Sleep-related habits also showed no significant change.

Conclusions The Sleep Toolkit did not significantly improve sleep quality or duration. Longer interventions and behavioral reinforcement may be needed to achieve measurable improvement in students’ sleep outcomes.

Keywords

Intervention / Pattern / Quality / Sleep / Sleep Tool Kit

AUTHORS CONTRIBUTIONS

All the authors had equal contribution towards the manuscript. Dr. Jane Anyango, Dr. Ruthie LaMar, Dr. Constance Mclntosh and Dr. Cynthia Thomas were responsible for developing and designing the study, data collection, results interpretation, discussion, writing and revising the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

FUNDING

This work was supported by Sigma Theta Beta Rho Chapter.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this manuscript.

INFORMED CONSENT

Obtained.

ETHICS APPROVAL

The Publication Ethics Committee of the Association for Health Sciences and Education. The journal’s policies adhere to the Core Practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

PROVENANCE AND PEER REVIEW

Not commissioned; externally double-blind peer reviewed.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

DATA SHARING STATEMENT

No additional data are available.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the nursing students at the Mid-Western University in United States, School of Nursing who participated in this study. We would also want to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Jones James who supported with the statistics.

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