Item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale in a university student sample

Unhelpful beliefs about sleep have been shown to exacerbate distress associated with sleep-related difficulties. University students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing sleep-related problems. The Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale is a widely used instrument that assesses for sleep-disruptive cognitions. Although psychometric support for the DBAS-16 is available, Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis is needed to examine its properties at the item level. Psychometric investigation in non-clinical samples can help identify people who may be at risk for developing sleep problems. We examined the DBAS-16 using IRT on a sample of 759 university students. Our results identified items and subscales that adequately/inadequately differentiated between students who held unhelpful beliefs about sleep and those who did not. The DBAS-16 is a valuable instrument to assess unhelpful beliefs about sleep. We outline recommendations to improve the discriminatory ability of the instrument. Future investigations should establish cross-validation with a clinical sample.