Smartphone-based virtual agents and insomnia management: A proof-of-concept study for new methods of autonomous screening and management of insomnia symptoms in the general population

J Sleep Res. 2021 Sep 18:e13489. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13489. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTInsomnia is the most frequent sleep disorder, and the COVID-19 crisis has massively increased its prevalence in the population, due to psychosocial stress or direct viral contamination. KANOPEE_2 is a smartphone-based application that provides interactions with a virtual agent to autonomously screen and alleviate insomnia symptoms through an intervention programme giving personalized advices regarding sleep hygiene, relaxation techniques and stimulus-control. In this proof-of-concept study, we tested the effects of KANOPEE_2 among users from all over the country (France) who downloaded the app between 1 June and 26 October 2020 (to focus on effects after the end of COVID-19 confinement). Outcome measures include insomnia severity (Insomnia Severity Index) and sleep/wake schedules measured by a sleep diary. One-thousand and thirty-four users answered the screening interview (Mage = 43.76 years; SD = 13.14), and 108 completed the two-step programme (Mage = 46.64 years; SD = 13.63). Of those who answered the screening, 42.8% did not report sleep complaints, while 57.2% presented mild-to-severe insomnia symptoms. At the end of the intervention, users reported significantly fewer sleep complaints compared with the beginning of the intervention (Insomnia Severity Indexbeginning = 13.58; Insomnia Severity Indexend = 11.30; p < 0.001), and significantly increased their sleep efficiency (sleep ef...
Source: Journal of Sleep Research - Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Source Type: research