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46 The sleep, circadian rhythms and mental health in schools (SCRAMS) feasibility study
  1. Giulia Gaggioni1,
  2. Judith Brown1,
  3. Stella Chan2,
  4. Breda Cullen1,
  5. Michael Farquhar3,
  6. Daniela Gibbons1,
  7. Alice Gregory4,
  8. Joanna Inchley1,
  9. Laura Lyall1,
  10. Mark Matthews5,
  11. Alyson O’Brien6,
  12. Natasha Sangha1,
  13. Sharon Simpson1,
  14. Manuel Spitschan7,
  15. Malcolm von Schantz8,
  16. Heather Whalley9,
  17. Cathy Wyse10 and
  18. Daniel Smith9
  1. 1Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
  2. 2School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kindom
  3. 3Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, United Kindom
  4. 4Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kindom
  5. 5School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland
  6. 6Sleep Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kindom
  7. 7Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kindom
  8. 8Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, United Kindom
  9. 9Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kindom
  10. 10Division of Population Health Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Abstract

Introduction Adolescence is a key developmental period for the onset of mental illness. Healthy rhythms of sleep and activity are critical for mental wellbeing in young people. Yet getting healthy diurnal rhythms becomes challenging for teens, due to developmental changes and multiple social and technological factors modifiable risk factor. We addressed this relationship in a feasibility study by investigating sleep-wake patterns of teenagers and their mental health, wellbeing, and cognitive performance.

Methods 9 schools of the SHINE network in Scotland took part in the study. Pupils wore an actigraph for 3 weeks, allowing the collection of objective rest-activity data. During the 3 weeks, they filled in -twice a day- a brief ecological momentary assessment with mood questions on their mobile phone (EMAapp). At the beginning and at the end of this period, participants also completed a digital online survey with further questions about mental health, sleep, and wellbeing (pre- and post- questionnaire) and they performed a cognitive assessment (6 subtests) on the online platform TestMyBrain (TMB).

Results The feasibility study included two data acquisitions. In Winter (Feb-March 2021), during the lockdown, 8 schools took part for a total of 60 students, whereas, in Summer (May-June 2021), 3 schools took part for a total of 15 students.

Preliminary feasibility results are summarised in the table 1 below.

View this table:
Abstract 46 Table 1

Discussion Overall, relatively good participation, especially during the lockdown. Compliance decreased from the pre- to the post- questionnaire session and within TMB itself. Only 2 people fully completed the study. 11% of the pupils had problem with the EMA app, as reflected in the average low entries. Regarding the actigraph, it was generally well tolerated (a few pupils complained having a rash at the end). Further actigraphy analyses are ongoing.

Funding MRC Engagement Award for Adolescent Mental Health.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjresp-2021-bssconf.40

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