A guided internet-delivered mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for insomnia: study protocol for a randomized controlled study.
Zixuan Zeng, Fei Liu, Chenyi Zhu, Xiangyun Long, Jiahui Jiang, Lei Huang, Zheng Lu
Frontiers in psychiatry January 1, 2025 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1506183
Summary
One in five people don't respond well to standard insomnia treatments. Now, researchers are testing an innovative online therapy that combines mindfulness with cognitive behavioral techniques. This internet-based intervention pairs patients with therapists who guide them through an 8-week program, blending sleep education with mindfulness practices. The randomized controlled trial compares this approach against basic sleep hygiene education in 80 adults with chronic insomnia.
Abstract
Chronic insomnia disorder (CID) is highly prevalent and impacts individuals' physiological, psychological and social functions. Although cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the recommended first-line treatment option for CID, approximately 20% of patients still exhibit limited effectiveness. The literature has shown that mindfulness can benefit CBT-I protocols and that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is effective in treating insomnia. However, the effectiveness of therapist-guided internet-based MBCT-I (iMBCT-I) has not yet been tested. This study protocol aims to evaluate the effect of therapist-guided iMBCT-I on chronic insomnia among Chinese adults. This will be a two-armed, parallel group, randomized controlled study with 80 CID patients. The participants will be randomized to either the iMBCT-I program or the sleep hygiene education (SHE) program at an allocation ratio of 1:1 via simple randomization. Assessments will be carried out at baseline, at the end of the intervention (week 8) and at the follow-up time (week 20). The primary outcome was insomnia severity at week 8. Statistical analyses will follow the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle. This is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of therapist-guided iMBCT-I in CID patients. Should it be effective, this study will provide evidence for clinical practitioners, therapists and patients to consider a new psychotherapeutic option and for technicians to perform self-guided iMBCT-I applications in the future. https://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR240008430.