a Department of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine , Children's Mercy Hospital , Kansas City , Missouri , USA.
b Department of Psychology , Saint Joseph's University , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
Behav Sleep Med. 2018 May-Jun;16(3):272-281. doi: 10.1080/15402002.2016.1188394. Epub 2016 Jun 30.
Sleep coaches are individuals of various backgrounds who offer services to families struggling with behavioral childhood sleep problems. We conducted a survey of coaches to further elucidate scope of practice, practice patterns, geographic distribution, education, training, and beliefs regarding qualification requirements.
A Web-based survey was completed by 142 individuals who identified as a sleep coach.
Coaches were distributed across 17 countries and 5 continents. Overall, 65% of coaches served clients in countries beyond their home country. Within the United States, coaches were generally located in more affluent and well-educated zip codes near large metropolitan centers, 91% served clients beyond their home state, and 56% served clients internationally. Educational background varied across coaches (12% high school degree, 51% bachelor's degree, 32% master's degree, 2% doctoral degree, 1.5% JD degree). Few coaches (20%) were or had been licensed health care providers or carried malpractice insurance (38%). Coaches usually provided services for children < 4 months of age to about 6 years of age, and were much less likely to provide services for children with comorbid neurodevelopmental (32%) or significant medical disorders (19%). Coaches reported an average of 3 new and 6 total clients per week and working 20 hr per week on average. Most coaches (76%) felt that a formal sleep coach training program was the most important qualification for practice.
These results highlight a diversity of background, training, and geographical distribution of sleep coaches, and may help inform discussions regarding guidelines for training and credentialing of sleep coaches.
睡眠教练是指来自不同背景的人员，他们为有行为性儿童睡眠问题的家庭提供服务。我们对这些教练进行了一项调查，以进一步阐明他们的实践范围、实践模式、地域分布、教育背景、培训以及对资格要求的看法。
142 名自称为睡眠教练的人完成了一项基于网络的调查。
教练分布在 17 个国家和 5 个大洲。总体而言，65%的教练在其母国以外的国家为客户提供服务。在美国，教练通常位于更富裕和教育程度更高的邮政编码地区，靠近大城市中心，91%的教练为其母国以外的客户提供服务，56%的教练为国际客户提供服务。教练的教育背景各不相同（12%为高中学历，51%为学士学位，32%为硕士学位，2%为博士学位，1.5%为法学博士学位）。很少有教练（20%）是或曾经是获得许可的医疗保健提供者或持有医疗事故责任保险（38%）。教练通常为 < 4 个月大的儿童提供服务，年龄约为 6 岁，为患有共病神经发育（32%）或严重医疗疾病（19%）的儿童提供服务的可能性要小得多。教练报告每周平均有 3 名新客户和 6 名老客户，每周平均工作 20 小时。大多数教练（76%）认为，正规的睡眠教练培训计划是实践的最重要资格。
这些结果突出了睡眠教练背景、培训和地域分布的多样性，可能有助于为睡眠教练的培训和认证准则的讨论提供信息。
