DESCREEN-Québec: Reducing Evening Screen Use and Improving Sleep in Québec Adolescents

Title: DESCREEN-Québec: Increasing Access to Evidence-Based Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Evening Screen Use Among Quebecker Adolescents Through Rapid Dissemination of Interventions via School Partnership

Adolescents in Québec are spending increasing amounts of time on screens, especially in the evening, which can interfere with sleep and negatively affect mental health, learning, and overall well-being. Although reducing evening screen time is recommended by health experts, there are currently no programs specifically designed for English-speaking adolescents in Québec.

This project will develop and implement DESCREEN-Québec, a school-based program that helps adolescents reduce evening screen exposure and improve sleep habits. The study will take place in two phases: first, an evidence-based screen-reduction intervention will be adapted to meet the needs of English-speaking youth in Québec, and second, the program’s impact on screen use and sleep health will be evaluated.

Researchers will measure changes in screen exposure and sleep using both questionnaires and objective measures collected before, after, and three months following the intervention. The findings will help improve access to evidence-based sleep health support for English-speaking adolescents and provide a scalable model for future school-based health programs in Québec.

Outputs:

Coming soon…

Increasing access to pediatric sleep care for youths in the English-speaking community in Quebec.

Abundant evidence indicates that the negative impacts of sleep disorders can be significantly reduced by effective treatment. However, interventional opportunities that would improve the sleep and overall health of children and adolescents in the English-speaking community in Quebec are currently being missed because healthcare providers serving this community are either unaware of the tools available or do not know how to use the tools effectively. Significant progress towards increasing access to pediatric sleep services could be made if healthcare professionals serving the English-speaking community in Quebec be provided with knowledge and skills in pediatric sleep medicine. Thus, the objective of the proposed activities is to disseminate pediatric sleep training to healthcare professionals who treat youths in the English-speaking community. This is important as it is expected to facilitate increased access to pediatric sleep care for youths with sleep problems and disorders in the English-speaking community in Quebec.