Can a parental sleep intervention in an individual setting improve the maternal and paternal sense of competence and parent–child interaction in parents of young sleep-disturbed children? findings from a single-arm pilot intervention study

BACKGROUND: In early childhood sleep and regulatory problems, parental factors are often impaired but essential to overcoming them. This study aims to examine, in parents of young sleep-disturbed children, whether mothers’ and fathers’ sense of parenting competence were increased and dysfunctional parent–child interactions reduced with a parental sleep intervention, whether these changes were sustained over a 12-month follow-up period and if children’s symptomatic parameters could be related factors. METHODS: A total of 57 families with sleep-disturbed children aged 6 months to 4 years entered this single-arm pilot study. Each parent pair participated in six weekly individual face-to-face sessions of a multimodal cognitive-behavioral sleep intervention. The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, Parental Stress Index Short Form, Child’s Sleep Diary and Child’s Questionnaire on Crying, Eating and Sleeping were obtained pre-, post-, 3, 6 and 12 months after the intervention. RESULTS: Maternal sense of competence and dysfunctional mother–child interaction improved significantly up to 6 months after the intervention. Factors related to lower maternal competence were the child’s more frequent nightly food intake and more crying due to defiance; factors related to dysfunctional mother–child interaction were more frequent crying episodes, more crying due to defiance and more eating difficulties; factors related to increased maternal competence were less duration of child’s night waking, less bed-sharing and lower frequency of crying episodes; factors related to increased paternal competence were less child’s nightly food intake and fewer episodes of unexplained and unsoothable crying; and factors related to improved father–child interaction were less frequent child’s night waking and fewer unexplained and unsoothable crying episodes. CONCLUSION: For parents of sleep-disturbed young children, an intervention that addresses the child’s sleep could be promising to increase the parental sense of competence and reduce dysfunctional parent–child interactions, especially for mothers. Child symptomatic parameters may change, together with the parental sense of competence and parent–child interaction of both parents, after the intervention. Mothers with children with more severe symptomatology perceive their parenting competence as lower on average and their mother–child interaction as more dysfunctional. Future research with a larger sample and a randomized controlled design is needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was retrospectively registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (ID: DRKS00028578; registration date: 21.03.2022).