Effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions on children's and mothers' sleep quality and maternal depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions (BSIs) on the number of child night awakenings, and maternal sleep quality and depression. The search followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA) using PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases and retrieved studies published until April 2021. We calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for child sleep problems, and the mean differences (MD) and 95% CI for the number of child night awakenings, and maternal sleep quality and depression. Ten studies of 1628 initial searched were included in the final analysis. Two of the 10 studies were divided into two subgroups by participants and intervention type; thus, 12 subgroups were included in the meta-analysis. BSIs significantly reduced child sleep problems (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.37-0.69) and improved maternal sleep quality (MD - 1.30; 95% CI - 1.82 to - 0.77) in the intervention group. There were no significant differences in the number of child night awakenings and maternal depression between the two groups. More RCTs to examine the effect of BSIs considering children's age, duration of intervention, and outcome measuring time points are needed.

Automated summary

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions (BSIs) on child sleep problems, maternal sleep quality, and depression. The findings showed that BSI significantly reduced child sleep problems and improved maternal sleep quality in the intervention group. However, there were no significant differences in the number of child night awakenings and maternal depression between the intervention and control groups. Further research, including more randomized controlled trials, is needed to explore the effects of BSI taking into account factors such as children's age, intervention duration, and outcome measurement time points.