O075 Improving Sleep Health in Paramedics through an App-based Intervention: A Randomised Waitlist Control Trial

INTRODUCTION: Paramedics engaging in shiftwork arrangements face unique challenges that impact their sleep health, potentially compromising performance and wellbeing. This study investigated whether tailored sleep health advice delivered through the Sleepfit mobile application improved sleep health in paramedics. METHODS: We conducted a two-group randomised waitlist-controlled trial. Fifty-eight paramedics were randomised to the intervention group (n = 29) or the waitlist group (n = 29). Intervention group participants trialled Sleepfit for 14 days, during which waitlist control participants continued as usual, before being provided with Sleepfit for 14 days. During the 14-day intervention period, Sleepfit provided tailored sleep health education for shift workers, relaxation exercises, and a sleep diary to track sleep quantity and quality. Measures of sleep health (e.g., ISI, FSS, ESS, SHI) were completed at baseline, 14 days following, and 3-month follow-up. Multiple linear regression models were conducted to test the impact of the intervention on sleep health outcomes. RESULTS: Participants reported an average two-point reduction in both ISI (p = 0.01) and SHI (p = 0.01) scores, as well as a significant improvement in sleep satisfaction (p = 0.01) at post-intervention measurement. All other measures remained unchanged. This may be due to limited intervention impact, insufficient participant numbers, a short intervention period, or a ceiling effect. CONCLUSION: This study provides preliminary evidence supporting the use of Sleepfit as an intervention in improving measures of sleep health in some shiftworkers. Further investigations, including objective assessments of sleep, are needed to validate these self-report measures in larger cohorts of shiftworkers.