The objectives of the 5-year Sleep Across the Lifespan team grant funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research will be achieved through the work of a diverse team of researchers, clinicians, knowledge users, trainees, Indigenous Peoples, and people with lived experience of insomnia, in collaboration with the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium.
- Increase sleep health knowledge and healthy sleep practices of all people living in Canada.
- Close the treatment gap for insomnia across the lifespan.
- Close the evidence-to-practice gap so evidence-based interventions are being recommended and delivered through the creation of an eLearning PD program for health care providers.
- Address the equity gap so that all people in Canada can have access to sleep health information, resources, and interventions that they find acceptable.
- Increase the cultural appropriateness of insomnia interventions for Indigenous Peoples.
- Mobilize the products created by this research through an online portal.
- Ensure sustainability of all products created through this research program.
- Build a bright future for sleep research in Canada through collaboration with the Consortium.
The work will be lifespan focused and will be conducted through three developmentally based research hubs:
- Research Hub 1: Infants & Young Children – Lead: E. Keys
- Research Hub 2: Children, Adolescents, & Young Adults – Leads: P. Corkum & G. Rigney
- Research Hub 3: Adults & Older Adults – Lead: S. Garland
Our long-term vision is to support sleep health care across the lifespan by developing evidence-based interventions and resources, and ensuring these are accessible to all Canadians. We plan to work with the newly formed Canadian Sleep Research Consortium to increase the awareness of sleep problems and their impact, to ensure that healthcare providers are trained to deliver evidence-based sleep care, that sleep education is part of the health landscape like healthy eating and movement behaviours, and that all people facing sleep challenges themselves or in people they care for have access to the knowledge, resources, and interventions to support sleep health across the lifespan.
The Sleep Across the Lifespan program of research will leverage the existing infrastructure to improve access with age-targeted digital programs and resources for insomnia. This will include:
- Digital resources about healthy sleep practices including a mobile app
- Online insomnia treatments including cognitive and behavioural interventions
- Programs for health care providers to learn how to diagnose and treat insomnia
- Sleep education programs for teachers to use with their students
All of these resources and interventions will be located in a dynamic Better Nights, Better Days virtual portal. Resources will be delivered to the person with insomnia (or their parent), to schools and universities, to work settings, and within hospitals and other care settings. We will also train upcoming researchers to continue to progress in the field of sleep medicine, including the development of insomnia treatments. This project aims to improve knowledge about insomnia and design treatments for Indigenous peoples, and those facing health problems and social and economic disadvantages. Our research will engage users to co-design resources and interventions to enhance acceptability and effectiveness. These programs will be designed for sustainability to ensure accessibility now and in the future.
The goal of this research is to give all Canadians, regardless of their age, sex, gender, location, ethnicity, and health status, access to tools and interventions to support them to achieve better nights and better days.