Peer-reviewed article
P029 Examining the Efficacy of Two Apps on Sleep and Anxiety in Children with Autism
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Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tested whether a mindfulness app could reduce anxiety and improve sleep in children with autism aged 7 to 12. Twelve children used either a mindfulness app or a sleep melodies app for two weeks in a controlled trial. Both apps improved parent-reported sleep problems, but the sleep melodies app (control group) showed better results for reducing pre-sleep arousal. The findings suggest apps can help children with autism sleep better, though the mindfulness app did not outperform the simpler control app.
Key points
- Both apps significantly improved parent-reported sleep problems (p < 0.05)
- The active control app (sleep melodies) produced significantly greater improvements in pre-sleep arousal than the mindfulness app (p < 0.05)
- Study involved 12 children aged 7-12 with autism spectrum disorder diagnosis
- Two-week blinded controlled trial design with counterbalanced app allocation
- Possible reasons for control app success include personalised sound choice and potential comprehension difficulties with mindfulness instructions in ASD children
Limitations
The study is very small (n=12) and short (two weeks), making it difficult to determine longer-term effects or generalisability. The document does not specify the country where the research was conducted, limiting understanding of the context and applicability to different settings.
Abstract
Abstract INTRODUCTION Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently experience a range of comorbidities alongside their condition. Particularly, sleep problems and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent, and often co-occur. The present study aimed to determine if using a mindfulness app before bed could reduce overall anxiety and improve sleep quality in children with ASD. METHOD Twelve children aged 7 to 12 with an ASD diagnosis participated in a blinded two-week controlled trial testing the use of two apps before bed. Children were allocated to the experimental mindfulness app or the active sleep melodies control app via counterbalancing. RESULTS Results of 2x2 mixed model ANOVAs revealed significant pre-post improvements in both apps for parent-reported sleep problems (p < 0.05), and a significant interaction effect for parent-reported pre-sleep arousal (p <0.05). Simple main effects analysis of the interaction results revealed that these differences were due to significant improvements in the active control group (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION Potential reasons for significant improvements in the active control group may have been due to the personalised choice of sounds/melodies for the active control app, or difficulty with the comprehension of instructions in the mindfulness app for ASD children. Overall, these results provide preliminary evidence of the general benefits of using apps to aid with sleep in children with ASD.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Mindfulness app used before bed, compared to active control sleep melodies app
- Population
- 12 children aged 7-12 years with autism spectrum disorder diagnosis
Key finding
Both apps significantly improved parent-reported sleep problems (p < 0.05)