dCBTi With and Without Coaching Support

A Randomized Controlled Comparative Trial of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (dCBTi): Comparing Efficacy and Adherence to dCBTi With Virtual and Human Coaching

The current research aims to evaluate the adherence and efficacy of dCBTi with different types of coaching support.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the five conditions. C1: Sleep Hygiene and Self-Monitoring Control Condition; C2: dCBTi without coaching; C3; dCBTi with virtual coaching; C4: dCBTi with non-therapist coaching; C5: dCBTi with therapist coaching.

Question 1:

Does dCBTi work better than the active control?

Hypothesis 1:

Participants in C2, C3, C4, and C5 will have greater improvement in insomnia than those in C1.

Question 2:

Does coaching support, virtual or human, improve treatment adherence and outcome?

Hypothesis 2:

Participants in C3, C4, and C5 will have greater improvement in insomnia and greater adherence to treatment recommendations than those in C2.

Question 3:

Does human coaching enhance treatment adherence and outcome?

Hypothesis 3:

Participants in C4 and C5 will have greater improvement in primary outcome than those in C3.

Question 4:

Does therapist-coaching-support enhance treatment adherence and outcome to a greater extent than virtual and non-therapist coaching support?

Hypothesis 4:

Participants in C5 will have greater improvement in primary outcome than those in C3 and C4.

Inclusion Criteria:

• (a) Hong Kong resident,
• (b) Aged 18 or above,
• (c) Able to read and write Chinese,
• (d) Has regular access to a smart phone and internet,
• (e) insomnia severity index ⩾10;
• (f) Willing and can be contacted by experimenter via phone between 9 am - 9 pm

Exclusion Criteria:

• (a) significant untreated/unstable mental or medical illness,
• (b) known factor to interfere with participation in this research,
• (c) serious medical, neurological, or psychiatric illness that may affect participation in this research,
• (d) sleep apnea,
• (e) concurrent treatment for insomnia,
• (f) unstablized medication that can affect sleep